The Ethiopian state-media painted a positive picture of the report of the International Panel of Experts on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which was submitted to to the governments of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.
A press release of the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy claimed that:
“the report indicates that the design of the GERD is based on international standards and principles…..[and] that the Dam offers high benefit for all the three countries and would not cause significant harm on both the lower riparian countries.”
However, the reaction from the Egyptian government appears much cautious.
Spokesman of Egypt’s Ministry of Irrigation, Dr. Khaled was quoted today as saying to an Arabic TV – One Channel – that:
“the report of the tripartite committee on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is very important at the international level.
“Egypt would not accept prejudice to its interests, pointing out that the Ethiopian side has confirmed that he can not be harm Egyptian interests.”
“we do not stand against the development of Ethiopia and achieve its goals, including not harm the interests of Egypt and Sudan.”
“The Tripartite Commission comprising the Ethiopian side and the Egyptian and Sudanese, the report is considered a very important paper.”
The Arabic website of Egypt Independent reported about an hour ago as follows (Google translation plus further editing):
The Committee of Experts triple in charge of studying the effects of dam Renaissance Ethiopian concluded its sixth and final in Addis Ababa, on Friday evening. According to sources in the Ministry of Irrigation, there are strict instructions not to reveal the content of the report issued by the Committee, which was received by the ministry on Saturday morning.
The government received the report through Egyptian members of the Committee, Sharif Mohammadi and Khaled Hussein, who arrived from Ethiopia today, and imposed the ministry strict procedures to prevent access to the report or the representatives of Egypt in the Commission, after a leaked report of the National Committee published on «Egyptian today».
The Committee of Experts, which included international consultants, has completed the preparation of its final report on the assessment of the effects of Renaissance dam on Egypt and Sudan, in the conclusion of its meeting in the capital Addis Ababa on Friday evening, pending the decision of the governments of the three countries on the report, after he was taken to the ministries and government bodies involved in the , to discuss its content, and take the decisions necessary for the implementation of the recommendations contained in it.
The Committee recommended, on the final report, the importance of direct dialogue between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to discussed technical notes made by the Committee and consider recommendations to be taken.
Although members of the Committee refused to disclose the content of the report, the sources confirmed that the final report contains a consensus in some aspects and calls for further technical studies.
The report emphasized that the studies submitted by the Ethiopian side are “incomplete” after six rounds of talks, which began on May 8, 2012, which held four rounds in Addis Ababa and one in Cairo and sixth in Khartoum.
The final report of the experts also noted the experts visited the dam site four times and to follow-up to the construction site of the dam and emulation of Ethiopian Studies submitted to the Committee what exists on the ground.
The Nile water sector is witnessing a state of anxiety after imposed strict measures on staff after Ahmed Bahaa El Din, Minister of Irrigation, gave instructions preventing all officials in the sector not to speak to the media, the sources said.
The website of the opposition party AlWafd reported as follows (Google translation plus further editing):
Official sources told Alwafd that the office of the President received a copy of the report of the tripartite committee on the effects of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
However, the presidency imposed secrecy on the details of the report and the report dealt with the technical aspects and the engineering and construction of the dam and the consequences and risks to Egypt’s share of Nile water and the direct effects of the [Egypt’s] High Dam.
The sources revealed some of the proposals and recommendations in order to avoid negative impacts, especially with regard to addressing any defects or deficiencies in the technical aspects and the engineering and construction of the dam, including guarantees that the historical rights of Egypt and Sudan in the waters of the Nile River as well as the High Dam will not be affected in the future.
The sources added that the report would recommend the need to open direct channels of dialogue and fast between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in order to reach full consensus on this issue in the interests of the three peoples, and without certain countries infringing the rights of other States.
The sources pointed out that the report would recommend re-negotiation of the Entebe Convention [a.k.a. the Cooperative Framework Agreement] in order to reach a compromise on the contentious issues between upstream and downstream countries, particularly with regard to ensuring the inviolability quotas historical downstream countries, and the need to pre-announcement for dam construction or the various projects on the banks of the rive by the Nile basin countries, in addition to that any decision is to be made between the signatory states to the Convention must be by consensus.
The sources said that the report did not answer all questions about the implications of the construction of a dam renaissance, describing it as a report scrawny because of censorship Ethiopian on the work of the Commission. The sources revealed that the report showed lack of cooperation from the Ethiopian side with the Committee, which was formed in December 2011 and the Ethiopian authorities withheld key information from the Commission and were lazy in cooperation with them.
Sources pointed out that the report, which is still at the stage of a 3-secret papers only, has implications on the construction of the dam and a number of recommendations. It also includes suggestions of the need for more advanced studies on the dam.
The Committee of Experts Tripartite Commission to study the effects of dam Renaissance, which includes experts from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, along with international consultants, has concluded in Addis Ababa yesterday evening its sixth and last meetings, issuing its final report on the assessment of the effects of dam Renaissance Ethiopian, which includes the results of the The recommendations of the Committee, which was submitted to the governments of the three countries concerned.
Other, well-known, Egyptian news outlets appear not to have commented on the details of the report.
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[Stay tuned]
Let Egyptians assume for a second that Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt are united under one government. Then how will they utilize the resources for their integrated and united people? The common sense answer is by using the concept of win-win approach, equitable and reasonable utilization, and true cooperation and by avoiding significant harm to one another. We have to apply the same principle to strengthen our political and economic integration. Egypt must stop its behaviour of destabilizing Ethiopia. Egypt must stop war mongering and trying to keep Ethiopia under poverty and backwardness. Egypt must stop being selfish and using zero-sum principle and dictating upon others by wrong indoctrination of its Colonial Master. Egypt must start to work together with Ethiopia and Sudan for mutual benefit of all three countries. It must send its farmers to come to Ethiopia and farm on fertile lands and feed its people by using comparative advantage instead of depend on the desert. It must start family planning to reduce population explosion if it worried about feeding its people. There are so many things these three countries can do together peacefully and through cooperation. Egypt must know that we are proud Ethiopians who are determined to defend ourselves if it chooses aggression directly or indirectly. Egypt has never appreciated Ethiopia and has never stopped being enemy of Ethiopia and our people. I hope the new administration of Egypt must learn cooperation, respect and inclusiveness on a bilateral level. God did not create Nile only for Egypt according to their myth, but rather it was created for all the people of Nile basin. God did not plan only Egyptians to eat bread by using Nile while Ethiopians go hungry and begging for bread from world community. There is now a paradigm shift in this regard. We will generate energy by making dams and feed our people by utilizing our resources without any significant harm to our brothers and sisters in Sudan and Egypt.
When someone tells you the truth you go crazy. Why? I am not Eritrean. I am not also narrow & close mind person who support or oppose the government in all cases.
Thanks.
Ethiopia believes in
1. Win -win approach
2.Equitable and reasonable utilization
3. Insignificant harm
4. True cooperation
Egypt’s problem is not water. They know there will be no harm to them due to the construction of renaissance dam, but their worry is the emergence of Ethiopia as a strong country. They have been working and investing on weakening Ethiopia. They instigated and hosted all internal civil wars and foreign aggressions on Ethiopia. They have attempted to occupy the source of Blue Nile four times and crushed. They organized, equipped and deployed Ziad Barre on Ethiopia, but failed. They sent Shaibia to wage war on Ethiopia and failed. What will be the last attempt will be seen. Shame upon Egypt.
EGYPT’S PROBLEM IS NOT WATER. THEY KNOW THERE WILL BE NO HARM TO THEM DUE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF RENAISSANCE DAM, BUT THEIR WORRY IS THE EMERGENCE OF ETHIOPIA AS A STRONG COUNTRY. THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING AND INVESTING ON WEAKENING ETHIOPIA. THEY INSTIGATED AND HOSTED ALL INTERNAL CIVIL WARS AND FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS ON ETHIOPIA. THEY HAVE ATTEMPTED TO OCCUPY THE SOURCE OF BLUE NILE FOUR TIMES AND CRUSHED. THEY ORGANIZED, EQUIPPED AND DEPLOYED ZIAD BARRE ON ETHIOPIA, BUT FAILED. THEY SENT SHAIBIA TO WAGE WAR ON ETHIOPIA AND FAILED. WHAT WILL BE THE LAST ATTEMPT WILL BE SEEN. SHAME UPON EGYPT AND ELIAS KIFLE.
Ethiopia believes in
1. win -win approach
2.Equitable and reasonable utilization
3. Insignificant harm
4. True cooperation
Daniel… Thanks for sharing…
I won’t be surprised if the egyptians gave different that the Ethiopian information about the finding. I don’t understand why all news get different meaning when the are released in Arab world. No wonder all this nonsense wars among them.Mis-informations. When Ethiopian media announced that Ethiopia has successfully diverted the natural course of the Nile river; the Egyptian medias diverted the news to “Ethiopia diverted Nile, and we are not going to get water!news. Then the ignorant public(even the well educated) got terrorized and came out with big mouths without even asking simple questions for more informations and not even considering to find out how the construction of dam goes; furthermore, if the river was diverted, didn’t even ask where to? and how?
መሳቂያችን ሆነው ቀሩ! በፊት በሻእቢያና ተከታዮቹ እንስቅ እንደበር ነበር……. ዘንድሮ ደሞ እግዚያብሄር ግብጾችን ጣለልን 😀
በስፕሪንግ ረቮሉሽን ፋሽን ተንጠው አገራቸውን መቀመቅ ካወረዱ ቡሃላ, ትክክለኛ መረጃ እንኳን ማጣጣም አልቻሉም… የባቢሎን ውድቀት ይሏቿል ይሄ ነው !!!
መስመራይ ነኝ!!!
KKKKK I guess Eritreans don’t have their own news or story to talk about. Their nose is growing everyday and touching what it shouldn’t touch.
ኤርትራ የበዪ ተመልካች ሆና ቀረች
There is really nothing to do for Eritreans except to talk about Ethiopia.
I don’t believe Ethiopian state media. They are trained lairs. I never forget how they reported about Badme’s unjust international decision.
What I find most troubling is the absence if not avoidance of the real core issue in my mind here, which is the unsustainable pressure unchecked human population has and will continue to have on this finite resource now and going forward. At what point do the respective governments, especially Egypt’s, damn their future populations to disease and anarchy because they weren’t honest or courageous enough to make the hard choices when they could have. Ethiopia is only now trying to do the right things for her children while accommodating Egypt’s insane demands, while any reasonable individual can see utter devastation ahead for Egypt no matter the resolution to this, because even every single drop of the Nile and another river like it will not be enough for Egypt at it’s unchecked rate of growth in 50 years. The solution lies with them alone.