The RenaissanceAdam: a huge structure that is not only controversial, but also puts old colonial ideas aside

On Tuesday, Ethiopia not only opens the largest dam in Africa, but also the most controversial: the Renaissanceam. The dam of rebirth radiates hope and ambition for Ethiopia, for Sudan and especially Egypt, its inauguration means the end of centuries of dominance over the longest river in Africa.

Since the start of construction in 2011 in 2011, Ethiopia has been growing downstream with the countries. In addition, war threats were not shunned, because, according to Egypt and Sudan, their ecosystem is endangered by the dam. Egypt even finds the Dam a threat to its national security. Sudan, which is close to the gigantic dam, fears the consequences of any accidents.

These are criticisms that the Ethiopian minister for water affairs Habtamu Itefa ways away. As far as he is concerned, the Dam is “a dream come true”. In a recent interview with the Ethiopian Reporter He said: “All Africans must be proud of what their Ethiopian brothers have achieved.”

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Gift from God

For centuries, high -quality cultures flourished along the Nile, first the legendary Nubian Empire Kush in present -day Sudan, then that of the pharaohs in Egypt, who called the Nile “the gift of God.”

The first Nile treaty dates from 1929 and was closed with Egypt on behalf of the East African colonies on behalf of the East African colonies. The Convention ignored the interests of East Africa and the independent Ethiopia: Egypt was assigned 87 percent of the Nile water and a veto right over water projects in countries upstream. That was not sustainable. In 2010, all countries along the white and blue Nile united, except Egypt, and they no longer recognized that treaty.

In addition to political differences, the opening of the Renaissancedam also reveals the dispute point around their functioning in drought. It raises the question of how controversies should be resolved in the future. In addition, the region split into Kampen. Sudan and Egypt, in vain, asked the UN Security Council to prevent Ethiopia to prevent the dam into operation. Egypt also went to the Arab League, while the African Union is behind Ethiopia.

Control over the Nile touches on so many regional sensitivities that the then Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi developed the plan in 2011 in the deepest secret. “Egypt is not about water, but about power and politics,” he argued. “There is a little racism behind it, as well as a colonial legacy.”

Deep -rooted distrust

That deep -rooted distrust brought Egyptian MPs to suggest the dam in 2013. Army leader Birhanu Jula of Ethiopia in turn threatened: “Egypt and the rest of the world know how we can wage war, if necessary.”

It did not come from war around Dam Square during the construction and filling of the reservoir, but Egypt and Ethiopia continue to profile themselves as kempans in the region. For example, Egypt recently sent a thousand soldiers to Somalia for a peace force, to Ethiopia’s anger. In the east, the Ethiopian government tries to gain access to the sea, one of the other strategic controversies around water in East Africa.

Both Egypt and Ethiopia try to gain political gain by driving the controversy to the point

“The construction of the Dam has become terribly politized,” says Yassir Abbas, the former Minister of Water Affairs in Sudan, by telephone. “Both Egypt and Ethiopia are driving the controversy. They don’t see it as a technical matter to solve, but as an opportunity to achieve political strategic gain. That is why this case has become very complex.”

Although in principle a dam regulates the water flow and hardly reduces, according to Egypt, it is about the survival of the nation. 95 percent of Egypt Water needs are lived by the 6,650 kilometers of Nile, which is filled for 85 percent with water from the highlands of Ethiopia. Sudan has great importance in the authority about the water tap of the Dam, because the water ends up after 15 kilometers to the Sudanese Roseires Dam. Sudan and Egypt therefore demand joint management of the Renaissanceam, Ethiopia does not want to know anything about it.

More water discussions

The blue Nile is peaceful and fertile in the dry months and furious and destructive in the rainy season. The remaining sediment after flooding formed the fertile surface along the banks for the numerous rich throughout history. That traditional agricultural system is now undergoing a radical change through the dam and becomes less dependent on floods. So there will be more permanent agriculture, but that also requires an agreement on the operation of the Renaisancedam.

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In Africa there are even more discussions about water use in the offing. About dams that Ethiopia builds in the southern river Omo, which makes Kenya fear the drying of Lake Turkana. Uganda constructs dams in De Witte Nile, Egypt wants water in South Sudan to be diverted around the gigantic Sudd swamp. With the Congorivier, the most powerful in the world, Congo could provide electricity all southern Africa. But for the time being these continental ambitions are not combined with negotiating mechanisms to settle the arguments.

The thirst for water will only increase. In 2050, five will have an estimated population of 648 million inhabitants to the Nile, six times more than Egypt. Ethiopia will then have 205 million inhabitants with an increasing need for water for agriculture. The dispute about the Renaissanceam is probably a harbinger of what Africa is still waiting. That is why Yassir Abbas advocates: “Water should bring people and states closer together.” But that is an insight that the Renaissanceam is not going to bring for the time being.

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