War Over Water? Dispute Between Egypt and Ethiopia Over Nile Grows After Violent Threats Made On Egyptian TV

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An excerpt from, “Ethiopia: Halting Dam’s Construction Unthinkable” by Marthe van der Wolf (VOA News, June 6, 2013):





rising after Ethiopia began diverting the water of a Nile River

tributary to build the continent’s biggest hydroelectric power plant.

Despite criticism from Egypt, Ethiopia says construction of the dam will

proceed. Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia arerising after Ethiopia began diverting the water of a Nile Rivertributary to build the continent’s biggest hydroelectric power plant.Despite criticism from Egypt, Ethiopia says construction of the dam willproceed. Ethiopia summoned the Egyptian ambassador this week to demand an

explanation after Egyptian politicians were overheard on a live

broadcast discussing ways to sabotage the Great Ethiopian Renaissance

Dam. The spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry

of Foreign Affairs, Dina Mufti, says Ethiopia is surprised by the tone

of Egyptian officials. “Whether those propaganda that are coming from that corner are the

government’s position or not, we have asked for verification. We are

caught by surprise because some government officials, party leaders and

civil society leaders, they were talking about Ethiopia violently and we

were surprised. We are waiting for this tone to be watered down very

soon,” said Dina Mufti.

An excerpt from, “Morsi Aide Apologizes After Ethiopia Remarks Broadcast Live” (VOA News, June 4, 2013):



Egyptian politicians have proposed ways to sabotage an Ethiopian dam

project in talks that were televised live without the politicians’

knowledge. An aide to Egypt’s president apologized for failing to tell the

politicians they were on the air Monday during the meeting with

President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo. The aide said on Twitter that a decision was made at the last minute to

air the meeting live, due to the importance of the topic. Ethiopia has angered Egypt with its plans to construct a massive hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, a key Nile River tributary. During Monday’s meeting, an Islamist party leader suggested Egypt

support Ethiopian rebels to exert pressure on Addis Ababa. A liberal

politician suggested spreading rumors that Egypt was buying military

planes for possible airstrikes.

An excerpt from, “Risk of water wars rises with scarcity,” by Chris Arsenault (Al Jazeera, August 26, 2012):



The battle for control of the life-giving waters of the Nile has gone on for centuries and continues to this day. The current tenuous political situation in Egypt means

that “if the army wants to divert attention away from criticism, it

would probably do something against Ethiopia,” water expert Adel Darwish

told Al Jazeera.

An excerpt from, “The Geopolitics of Water in the Nile River Basin,” by Prof. Majeed A. Rahman (Global Research, July 24, 2011):





Ethiopia has pushed forward her demand to develop water resources

through hydroelectric power along the Nile. However, for several

decades, Egypt has denied other riparian countries complete access to

water resources along the Nile, and for that matter has exercised her

hegemonic powers over the development and control of the use of water

resources in the Nile river basin for many decades. The Nile river basin

has survived centuries, and for many years has served as Egypt’s

economic hub, political power and growth since ancient times. The water

resources in the Nile basins have also served as economic, political,

social and cultural achievements of Egypt’s influence in the sub region.



Video: Politicians, Unaware They Are on Air, Threaten Ethiopia over Dam Construction (Source: MEMRI TV)



Video: Egyptian Official Comments On Negative Global Reaction To Video of Egyptian Politicians Discussing Violent Means To Sabotage Ethiopia’s Dam Project

Source: http://disquietreservations.blogspot.com/2013/06/war-over-water-dispute-between-egypt.html