E
Morsi
responded last week by convening an emergency meeting of leaders from
across Egypt's political spectrum, a move that backfired wildly when the
presidency decided to broadcast the session live on television without
telling most of the participants.
Thinking that they were conspiring in secret, the politicians hatched plans to arm Ethiopian rebels, launch a whispering campaign about Egypt's military might and send fighter jets to knock out the dam with one swift shot.
Morsi has not been so explicit, but he warned in a Monday night speech that "all options are open" in protecting the river, which accounts for 95 percent of Egypt's water needs. The country, he told a crowd of cheering supporters, is ready to sacrifice blood to ensure that "not one drop" of the Nile is lost.
In an interview with Ethiopian state media on Tuesday, Hailemariam dismissed that as warmongering meant to distract from Egypt's domestic issues.
"I don't think they will take that option unless they go mad," he said. The same day, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the nation "will not even for a second" stop the dam's construction.
The standoff reflects the critical importance of controlling the region's water resources at a time of rapidly rising populations. Egypt and Ethiopia each have more than 80 million people, double the population that existed just 30 years ago. By 2050, the combined population of the two countries is expected to rise by 100 million, even as climate change could reduce the supply of water.
Nonetheless, Ethiopia has said repeatedly that the Grand Renaissance Dam won't cause a problem for Egypt. Ethiopian officials say the dam will be used to generate electricity, not to irrigate fields, meaning that all the water will eventually make its way downstream to Egypt.
Those officials see the dam as a chance to make right a colonial-era wrong that has preserved most of the Nile's water for Egypt while leaving little benefit for upstream countries.
Egypt may be the gift of the Nile, as the Greek historian Herodotus once remarked, but the Nile is not Egypt's alone. Eleven countries share the basin of the world's longest river, which winds through much of East Africa before emptying into the Mediterranean in northern Egypt.
Ethiopia has won the majority of those countries to its side with the promise of electricity exports for a region that desperately needs new sources of energy. It has even offered to sell some of the dam's 6,000 megawatts to Egypt.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/international/211308751_Egypt_sees_Ethiopian_dam_as_risk_to_water_supply__threatens_dire_action.html?page=2#sthash.zBxXWjZB.dpuf
Thinking that they were conspiring in secret, the politicians hatched plans to arm Ethiopian rebels, launch a whispering campaign about Egypt's military might and send fighter jets to knock out the dam with one swift shot.
Morsi has not been so explicit, but he warned in a Monday night speech that "all options are open" in protecting the river, which accounts for 95 percent of Egypt's water needs. The country, he told a crowd of cheering supporters, is ready to sacrifice blood to ensure that "not one drop" of the Nile is lost.
In an interview with Ethiopian state media on Tuesday, Hailemariam dismissed that as warmongering meant to distract from Egypt's domestic issues.
"I don't think they will take that option unless they go mad," he said. The same day, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the nation "will not even for a second" stop the dam's construction.
The standoff reflects the critical importance of controlling the region's water resources at a time of rapidly rising populations. Egypt and Ethiopia each have more than 80 million people, double the population that existed just 30 years ago. By 2050, the combined population of the two countries is expected to rise by 100 million, even as climate change could reduce the supply of water.
Nonetheless, Ethiopia has said repeatedly that the Grand Renaissance Dam won't cause a problem for Egypt. Ethiopian officials say the dam will be used to generate electricity, not to irrigate fields, meaning that all the water will eventually make its way downstream to Egypt.
Those officials see the dam as a chance to make right a colonial-era wrong that has preserved most of the Nile's water for Egypt while leaving little benefit for upstream countries.
Egypt may be the gift of the Nile, as the Greek historian Herodotus once remarked, but the Nile is not Egypt's alone. Eleven countries share the basin of the world's longest river, which winds through much of East Africa before emptying into the Mediterranean in northern Egypt.
Ethiopia has won the majority of those countries to its side with the promise of electricity exports for a region that desperately needs new sources of energy. It has even offered to sell some of the dam's 6,000 megawatts to Egypt.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/international/211308751_Egypt_sees_Ethiopian_dam_as_risk_to_water_supply__threatens_dire_action.html?page=2#sthash.zBxXWjZB.dpuf
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