Tense talks over Nile dam resume

Talks over the Nile waters have resumed with Egypt continuing to defend its objections to Ethiopia's plan to start filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam next month. The US is negotiating between the two countries amid concerns that the dispute could result in a war. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Ethiopia has accused the US of overstepping its role as a neutral observer for stating that the dam should not be completed without an agreement. Countries downstream are concerned about the impact on their water supply. Egypt relies on the Nile for 90% of its water, and a 1932 treaty gives it and Sudan rights to most of the water. In an interview with The East African, Egypt’s ambassador to Kenya, Khaled ElAbyad, said the impact of water shortages in Egypt caused by the dam project could be catastrophic. ‘Millions of jobs will be lost, thousands of hectares of arable land would disappear, cultivated land would experience salinisation, the cost of food imports would increase dramatically, and urbanisation will sky-rocket due to rural depopulation,’ he said, adding that it will lead to an increase in ‘unemployment, crime rates and transnational migration’. He expressed concerns that the mega project is being constructed without any studies on its socio-economic impact and without the environmental impact assessment. Upon completion, the dam will be Africa's biggest hydroelectric power plant and provide Ethiopia and some neighbours with huge amounts of electricity and energy security.

Full report in The East African