(Daniel Berhane)
Dozens of Ethiopians staged a demonstration in front of Ethiopia’s Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, according to eye witnesses’ report.
The sources indicated that the demonstrators held banners that claim “we are Oromos not Ethiopians”; holding flags and wearing t-shirts bearing OLF’s emblem.
OLF (Oromo liberation Front) is a terrorist group backed by Eritrea and implicated by a United Nation report for its role in a foiled attempt to bomb an African Union summit in 2010.
The protesters also held Egypt’s flag.
The sources provided this blog with a photo of the demonstrators. (See on the photo on the right)
In a related news, the Egyptian website Ahram reported an Ethiopian demonstration was held at the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cairo. The website reported that:
Abdel-Kader Goumy, one of the protesters, told Al-Ahram’s Arabic language news website that the Renaissance Dam is intended to generate electricity, and, as such, there is no reason it should be built on the Nile, rather than on Ethiopia’s other rivers.
“The [Oromo] tribe supports Egypt’s right not to be adversely affected [by the dam]… Addis Ababa is not in need of water, rather it aims to build the dam for political purposes,” he added….
Protesters lifted Egyptian and Ethiopian flags, declaring their refusal to support a dam that will “damage Egypt and will not help Ethiopia.”
It is to be recalled that Elias Kifle, owner of EthiopianReview and former diaspora liaison of the pro-Eritrea group EPPF [Ethiopian People Patriotic Front], wrote an open letter on May 31 claiming that:
“Any government that represents the interest of Ethiopia would not try to dam the Nile when the country has many other underutilized rivers we can dam for electricity and irrigation purposes economically and in an environmentally safe way.
I would like Egyptians to know that the people of Ethiopia are not threatening your survival. We have not been consulted about the project, and we do not support it.”
Similarly, Professor Alemayehu Gebremariam (Al-Mariam), board member of the Ginbot-7 backed media ESAT, wrote a pro-Egyptian article last March ridiculing the Renaissance dam – which is a dream of several generations – in the following words:
What will Egypt will do if Meles’ “Grand Renaissance Dam” is in fact built? “Simple.” They will use dam busters to smash and trash it……
Meles [Zenawi]’s legacy could indeed be a water war of death and destruction on the Nile, but he will never have a cement monument built on the Nile to celebrate his life. Meles’ disciples would be wise to remember an old prophesy as they march headlong to build their doomsday dam on the Nile: “God gave Noah the Rainbow Sign: No more water. The fire next time!”
Regardless of all these fifth-columnists psychological campaign, opinion on Addis Ababa streets remains firm that halting the Renaissance dam project is simply unthinkable.
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