8ኛውን አመት የሰኔ 1997 ሰማዕታት የምናስታውሰው የተሰውለትን ክቡር አላማ ለማሳካት ዝግጁነታችንን እየገለጽን ነው

 

የምርጫ 1997 ውጤት በወያኔ/ኢህአደግ መሰረቁን ተከትሎ ተቃውሞአቸውን ለማሰማት አደባባይ የወጡት ዜጎቻችን ላይ በመለስ ዜናዊ ይመራ የነበረው አጋአዚ ጦር ፋሽስታዊ እርምጃ መውሰድ የጀመረበት ሰኔ 1 1997 8ኛ አመቱን ባለፈው ቅዳሜ አገባዷል።
በግፍ የተጨፈጨፉትን የሰኔ 97 ሰማዕታቶቻችንን ባሰብን ቁጥር ሁሌም በአይነ ህሊናችን የሚመላለሰው፣ አገርን ከወራሪ ጠላት ለመከላከል በሚያስችል ወታደራዊ አቅምና ዝግጅት እስከ አፍንጫው ድረስ ታጥቆ የነበረውና; በመላው አዲስ አበባ ከተማ ውስጥ እየተርመሰመሰ በወገኖቻችን ላይ ያን ሁሉ የተኩስ ናዳ ሲያዘንብ የሰነበተው የአጋአዚ ጦርና በአለም አቀፍ መገናኛ ብዙሃን የቴሌቪዥን መስኮቶች የተመለከትናቸው በደም የተጨመላለቁ አካላት ምስል ፤ በአሜሪካ ድምጽ ሬዲዮ ከተስተጋባው የሟቾች ቤተሰቦች የድረሱልን ለቅሶና ዋይታ ጋር ተደበላልቆ ነው። “መሪያችሁን ወጥታችሁ በሰላማዊና ዲሞክራሲያዊ ምርጫ ምረጡ” ብሎ የፈቀደ ሃይል ሲሸነፍ: ታንክና መተረየስ የታጠቁ አልሞ ተኳሾችን ያዘምትብናል ብሎ ያሰበ አልነበረምና ፍትህ፤ እኩልነትና ነጻነት የሰፈነበት አገር ባለቤት ለመሆን ተስፋ ሰንገው ጥያቄያቸውን በሰላማዊ መንገድ ለማሰማት ከቤታቸው የወጡ ዳግም ላይመለሱ እስከወዲያኛው ተለዩን።
ፋሽስት ጣሊያን አገራችንን በቅኝ ግዛትነት የራሷ ለማድረግ በነበራት ህልም ለነፃነቱ ቀናዕ የሆነውን ህዝባችንን በፍርሃት ለማሽመድመድ የሩዶልፍ ግራዚያኒ ጦር የካቲት 12 ቀን 1928 በአዲስ አበባ ከተማ ነዋሪዎች ላይ ከፈጸመው የጭካኔ እርምጃ ፈጽሞ ባልተናነሰ አረመኔያዊነት ሰኔ 1 ቀን 1997 ወገኖቻችን ላይ የተፈጸመው ያ አሰቃቂ ጭፍጨፋ፡ ታዳጊዎችን ከአዋቂ ፤ አዛውንትን ከጎልማሳ፤ አካለ ስንኩላንን ከጤነኛ ፤ ሴቶችን ከወንዶች መለየት ሳያስፈልግ አደባባይ የወጣውን ሁሉ “ የትግሬ ጠላትና የቀድሞ ሥርዓት ናፋቂዎች ናቸውና በሉዋቸው” የሚል ትዕዛዝ ባስተላለፉ የዘር ጥላቻ ሂሊናቸውን ባናወዛቸው ጥቂት “ከትግራይ ህዝብ አብራክ የተገኘን እንቁዎች ነን” በሚሉ ዘረኞች የተቀነባበረ እንደሆነ ታወቃአል።
መለስ ዜናዊ ፤ በረከት ስሞን ፤ ሳሞራ ይኑስና ታደሰ ወረደ ከነዚህ ቀንደኛ ዘረኞች ዋንኞቹ እንደሆኑ ሲታወቅ “የተጭበረበረው የምርጫ ድምጻችን ይመለስልን!! ፤ እንዲመሩን የመረጥናቸው ሰዎች ያስተዳድሩን !!” በማለት ጥያቄ ያነሳውን ህዝብ ለመቅጣት ሲባል የአገሪቱ የጸጥታ ሃይሎች በሙሉ በአንድ ዕዝ ሰንሰለት ሥር ገብቶ ተጠሪነቱ በቀጥታ ለመለስ ዜናዊ እንዲሆን ምርጫው በተካሄደበት የግንቦት 7/ 1997 ምሽት መመሪያና አዋጅ በሬዲዮና በቴሌቭዥን በራሱ በመለስ ዜናዊ ካስነገሩ ቦኋላ: እስከዛሬ ወደ አፎቱ ያለተመለሰ የጥቃት ሳንጃቸውን በህዝባችን ላይ መዘዋል።
ዘረኝነት ምን ያህል ጭካኔ ሊያመነጭ እንደሚችል ትምህረት ሰጥቶ ባለፈው የሰኔ 97 ጭፍጨፋ ሰለባ ከሆኑት መቶዎች ውስጥ፡ መርካቶ አካባቢ ይጫወትበት የነበረውን የጨርቅ ኳስ አንስቶ ለመሸሽ ጎንበስ ባለበት ተደፍቶ የቀረው የ10 አመቱ ታዳጊ ህጻን እንዲሪስ፤ ደብተሩን ተሸክሞ ከትምህረት ቤት ሲመለስ ፍልውሃ አካባቢ የተገደለው የ14 አመቱ ነብዩ አለማየሁ፤ ኮተቤ መምህራን ኮሌጅ ፊት ለፊት ግንባሯን በጥይት ተመታ የተገደለቺው የ18 አመቷ ወጣት ሽብሬ ደሳለኝ፤ ባሌን አትውሰዱብኝ በማለታቸው ደረታቸውን በጥይት ተደብድበው የተገደሉት የ8 ልጆች እናት ወ/ሮ እቴነሽና ቀድሞ በተተኮሰ ጥይት የወደቀውን ወንድሙን አብረሃም ይልማን አስከሬን ቀና ለማድረግ ሲሞክር ጀርባውን በጥይት ተበሳስቶ የተገደለው የፈቃዱ ይልማ ወላጅ ቤተሰቦች በአሜሪካ ድምጽ ሬዲዮ ያሰሙት የድረሱልን እሮሮና ለቅሶ ዛሬም ድረስ ሂሊናችን ውስጥ እያንቃጨለ እረፍት ይነሳናል።
በተለይም ደግሞ ድንገተኛ ሞት ከረጂሙ የጥፋት አላማው ከቀጨው መለስ ዜናዊ በስተቀር የዚህ ሰቆቃ ፈጻሚዎች ዛሬም ድረስ በሰሩት ወንጀል ፍትህ ፊት ሳይቀርቡና ተገቢውን ቅጣታቸውን ሳያገኙ መቅረታቸው ያንገበግበናል፤ ይቆጨናል፤ እስከመጨረሻው የድል ቀን ድረስ ፀንተን እንድንታገላቸው ሞራላችንንና ወኔያችንን በየደቂቃው ይሰቀሰቃል።
ግንቦት 7 የፍትህ የነጻነትና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ ከተመሠረተበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ በምርጫ 97 የተነጠቅነውን የህዝብ ድል ለማስመለስና ወያኔ በአገዛዝ ዘመኑ በህዝባችን ላይ ለፈጸመው ሰቆቃና አገራችን ላይ ለፈጸማቸው ወንጀሎች ህግ ፊት ቀርቦ ተጠያቂ እንዲሆን ለማድረግ ተግቶ እየታገለና እያታገለ ያለው ለነጻነት ሲሉ ውድ ህይወታቸውን መሰዋዕት የከፈሉ ወገኖቻችን አደራና የህዝባችን የነጻነት ጥማት ከሁሉም በላይ ስለሚያሳስበው እንደሆነ ደጋግሞ ገልጾአል።
ወያኔ ሥልጣን ከተቆጣጠረ ጊዜ ጀምሮ የአገራችንን ሉአላዊነት ለማፍረስና የህዝባችንን አንድነት ለመናድ የሚያደርገውን እኩይነት ተቃውሞ ሲታገሉ የታሰሩ፤ የተደበደቡ፤ የተገደሉና ለአካለ ጎዶሎነት የተዳረጉት ዜጎቻችን መስዋዕትነት መና ሆኖ እንዳይቀር እንዲሁም ከሰኔ 1997 እስከ ህዳር 1998 በአጋአዚ ጦር የተጨፈጨፉ የዲሞክራሲ ለውጥ አርበኞች አጥንትና ደም እንዳይፋረደን እያንዳንዱ አገር ወዳድ ኢትዮጵያዊ ትግሉን ከዳር ለማድረስ እየተካሄደ ያለውን የነፃነት ትግል ለማገዝ ዛሬውኑ እንዲቀላቀለን ግንቦት 7 የፍትህ የነፃነትና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ ጥሪዉን ለያንዳንዱ አገር ወዳድ ኢትዮጵያዊ ያቀርባል። አውራው እንደሞተበት ንብ እየተበታተነ ያለው የወያኔ ኢህአደግ አባላትና ደጋፊዎችም በጭፍጨፋ ወንጀል ተሳታፊ እስካልነበሩ ድረስ የሚመጣው ለውጥ ለነርሱም የተስፋና የነፃነት ዋስትና የሚሰጥ በመሆኑ ምንም ሳያቅማሙ የትግሉን ጎራ ዛሬውኑ እንዲቀላቀሉ ወገናዊ ጥሪውን ያስተላለፋል።
ወያኔ ላለፉት 22 አመታት በአገራችንና በህዝባችን ላይ እየፈጸመ ያለውን ሰቆቃ ማስቆም የሚቻለው ወያኔን በማስወገድ ብቻ እንደሆነ አቋም የያዘው የግንቦት 7 ንቅናቄ አመራርና መላው አባላቱ ትግሉ የሚጠይቀውን መስዋዕትነት ሁሉ ለመክፈል ከምንጊዜውም በላይ ዝግጁ መሆናቸውን የሚገልጹት በታላቅ ብሄራዊ ስሜትና ኩራት ነው። ለሰኔ 97 ሰማዕታትና ለቤተሰቦቻቸው ከዚህ የበለጠ ቃልኪዳን የለምና።
ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ!!

ከአረብ ሃገራት ሰማይ እስከ ሚሊንየም አዳራሽ!

  

ከነቢዩ ሲራክ
እኔን ያሰፈራኝ ጎርበጥባጣው መንገድ . . . ኢትዮጵያውያን በግብጽ . . .
ሰሞነኛ የማለዳ ወጌን ወደ እናንተ ላደርስ አንዱን አንስቼ አንዱን ስጥል አንድ ወዳጀ ስልክ ደውሎ በግብጵ የሚኖሩ ኢትዮጵያውያን የአባይን ግድብ ውዝግብ ተከትሎ አደጋ ላይ መሆናቸውን መረጃ ቢጤ አቀበለኝ ። በማስከተልም ከጥቆማ መረጃው ጋር በቀጣዩ ቀን ነዋሪዎች በነቂስ ሰላማዊ ስልፍ ለማደረግ እንዳቀዱ በመግለጽ እንዳነጋግራቸው መከረኝ ። መረጃ ለመሰብሰብ የሚረዱኝን ወንድሞች አድራሻ የሰጠኝን ወንድም አመስግኜ ወደ ሃገረ ግብጽ ካይሮ ደጋግሜ ደወልኩ። ከብዙ ጥረት በኋላ ግን የፈለግኩትን መረጃ ሙሉ በሙሉ ባላገኝም ያገኘሁትን ሰባስቤ ለተጨማሪ መረጃ የሚረዱኝን ተጨማሪ ስልክ ቁጥሮች ሰባሰብኩ። ያሰባሰብኳቸው መረጃዎች ግን ለኢትዮጵያ መጻኤ ህይወት እንድሰጋ እንድፈራ አድርገውኛልና ፈራሁ! ልቤ እንቢ እያለኝ ጥረቴን ገፋሁበት . . . ” በእንቅርት ላይ ጀሮ ደግፍ ” እንዲሉ ድሮም በመገለል ቋፍ ላይ የነበሩት ግብጵ የሚኖሩ ኢትዮጵያውያን ስደተኞች የአባይን ግድብ የመንግስታቱ ፍጥጫ ኑሯቸውን እንዳላስመቸው ሰምቻለሁ፣ ደረሰባቸው የተባለው መገለልና ያላባራውን ተደጋጋሚ ጥቃት ለሚመለከታቸው የተባበሩት መንግስታት ድርጅት ሃላፊዎች “አቤት!” ለማለት የኦነግን እና የግብጽን ባንዴራ ይዘው የተቃውሞ ሰልፍ የማድረጋቸው ዜና ተከታትሎ ደረሰኝ ፣ ይህን መስማቱ በራሱ ያማል . . . እናም ፈራሁ !
ሰላማዊው የሙስሊም ወገኖች ተቃውሞ . . .
ሙስሊም ወገኖቻችን አመት ከመንፈቅ የደፈነ ያልተፈታ ጥያቄ አላቸው ፣ መሪዎቻቸው ዘብጥያ ከወረዱ አመት ከመንፈቅ ሊደፍን ነው ፣ ከዚያም ወዲህ በርካታ ደጋፊዎቻቸው ነጋ ጠባ ዘብጠያ እንደሚወረወሩ እየሰማን ነው ፣ ከሁሉም አስገራሚ በሆነ መንገድ ከአመጽ ርቀው የማህተመ ጋንዲን ሰላማዊ ተቃውሞ ያስናቀ ስላማዊ ተቃውሞ ያሳዩን ሙስሊሞች ለአመት ከመንፈቅ በዋሉት አብዛኛው የአርብ የህብረት ጸሎት በተክታታይ ጊዜያት ” ህገ መንግስት ይከበር ፣ ኮሚቴዎቻችን ይፈቱ!” በማለት ድምጻቸውን ከፍ አድርገው ቢያሰሙም ሰሚ አላገኙም። የታሰሩት የፍርድ ሂደት በገደምዳሜ ሲንከባለል ፣ ሰው ትዕግስቱን እንዳያጣ ያስፈራል። ይህ ሂደትም ውሎ ሲያድ ነገሩ እንዳያከረው ፣ ሰላማዊውን ተቃውሞ በሃይል ሊገታ ከታሰበ ሊፈጠር የሚችለው ሁከት ፣ ሁሉም ሲከር እንዳይበጠስ ፣ ግሎ እንዳይቀልጥ ያሰጋኝ ያስፈራኝ ይዟል ! እናም የመሪ ፣የአስተዳዳሪ፣ የባለ መላ ዳኛ ያለህ አልኩ ቢጨንቀኝ ! ግና ፈራሁ !
ተቆርቋሪ ፣ሳቢ ያጣን ዜጎች በደል …
ይህ ሁሉ ሃሳብ ሲንጠኝ ብዕሬን ወርውሬ ጥዬ ልወጣ ብከጅልም ሌላ ጉድ አዳፍቶ አስቀመጠኝ ። የሰው ክብሩ ቢቀርብን ወደ ውጭ እንደሚላክ እቃ የሻጭ ገዥ ውል መፈጸሚያ ስምምነት ውል በህግ ማዕቀፍ ተላኩ ለሚባሉት ዜጎች አልተበጀልንም። ይህ አያስቆጭ አያንገበግብ ይሆን? ታዲያ ወላጆች ልጆቻቸውን ለገንዘብ ሲሉ ይልካሉ የምንለውስ በየትኛው ሞራል ይሆን? ደላላ ኤጀንሰጀ መውቀሱ ፋይዳው ምኑ ላይ ነው? ከረር ያለው ጥያቄ ማጠየቄ ያለ ነገር አይደለም ። የሰማሁት ቢያመኝ ነው! ዜጋ ከሃገር ለስራ ኮንትራት ሲወጣ ሁለት ሃገራት መካከል ሁለትዮሽ የጋራ ስምምነትና የስራ ውል መሰረታዊ ጥያቄ ነው ። ይህ ግን በእኛ አልሆነም! ለዘመናዊ ባርነት የሚላኩ ዜጎች በደል ከባለቤቶቹ ሌት ተቀን እሰማለሁ ። እናም ጩኸት ምሬቱ ቢታዎሰኝ የሸበበኝ የፍርሃት ልጓም በጥሼ የልብ ልብ የሰጠኝ የነፍስ ውስጥ ሙግት እነሳለሁት ፣ የስደት ቁስሉን የሚያሽረው እውነተኛ መፍትሄ ብቻ ነው በሚል የጀመርኩት የዚያን ሰሞን ጅምር የማለዳ ወግ መልኩን ቀይሬ እንዲህ መሞነጫጨሬን ጀመርኩት ! ያልተደፈሩ ፣ የተደበቁ እውነቶች ቅስማችን እሰከ ሰበረው ስደትና ፍርሃት እዳስሰው ዘንድ አናኳር አንኳር ምክንያቶቸን ደራደርኩ ! ጥቂቶች አስቀድመን የምናውቀውን ፣ ሃላፊዎችን ዳጋግመን ስንጠይቅ “ስምምነት አለ!” ሲሉ ሲወሸክቱን የባጁትን፤የከረሙትን ጭብጥ የሌለው እውነት የጅዳው ቆንስል ጀኔራል አቶ ዘነበ ከበደ ገላልጠው የነገሩን ባሳለፍነው ሳምንት ነበር ። በአብዛኛው በእድሜ ያልበሰሉ ፣ ለዘመነው የአረቦች ቤት አይደለም ፣ ባደጉ በተማሩበት መንደር ዙሪያ ባሉ ወረዳ እና ቀበሌ የዘመኑ ጎጆዎች እንግዳ ለሚሆንባችው ድሃ አደግ ታዳጊ ጉብሎች የሚገኙባቸው ቁጠራቸው ወደ ግማሽ ሚሊዮን የሚጠጉ ዜጎች በኮንትራት ስራ ስም ከዘመናዊ ባርነት ለማይተናነሰው የሳውዲ ባለ ጸጎች የቤት ስራተኝነት ተልከዋል። ይህ የሆነው ግን ያለ ሁለትዮሽ የስራ ኮንትራት ስምምነት መሆኑን የጅዳው ቆንስል አቶ ዘነበ ከበደ ባሳለፍነው እሁድ ከጀርመን ራዲዮ ጋር ባደረጉት ውይይት አርድተውናል ።
በህግና ስርአት ሃገር አስተዳድራለሁ፣ ድህነትን ለማጥፋት የማልፈነቅለው ድንጋይ የለም ከሚል መንግስት ሁለት ሶስት ገጽ የማትሞላ የሰራተኛ ህግን ማርቀቅ እንዴት ገደደው? እንደ ቀሩት ሩቅ ምስራቅ ሃገራት ጠንከር ያለ መብት ማሰከበሪያ አንቀጾችን እንኳ ማስቀመጥ ቢገድ እን ጎረቤት ኬንያ ደመወዝ ፣ የስራ ሰአት፣ ህክምናና መብት ረገጣና የሚከላከሉ ስስ አንቀጾችን አካቶ ፣ ውል ስምምነት ፈጽሞ ዜጎችን በኮንትራት ስራ መላክ ከገደደው መንግስትነቱ ምኑ ላይ ነው? ብየ አጠየቅኩ ፣ ግን መልስ አጣሁ ! ይህም እንዝህላልነት አይሉት ሃገር ማለት ሰው መሆኑን ያለማገናዘብ እዳ? የምናገረው፤ የምለውን ቢያሳጣኝ ፣አንገብግቦ አስቆጨኝ ! የረጅሙ አውራ መንገድ መነሻ መንገድ ማጣት ግራ ያጋባል። ለሃገር ለወገን የሚል መጥፋቱን ማስተዋሌ አራደኝ ! ፈራሁ !
የሰቆቃ እንባ በሚሊንየሙ አዳራሽ . . .
ባለፍነው ሳምንት “በስደት ይብቃ! ” መሪ ቃል ሃገር አቀፍ ስብሰባ በሚሊኒየም አዳራሽ ተካሂዶ ትረሱታላችሁ አልልም ። ዝግጅቱ እንደ ጅማሬው ባይዘልቅም ቀልብን ሳቢ ነበር ለማለት እደፍራለሁ ። የተሰበሰቡት ከፍተኛ የመንግስት ባለስልጣናት እንባና የኢትዮጵያ ቴሌቪዥን ቀጥታ ስርጭት አስደምሞኛል። ከማውቀው ከሰማሁት ሳይሆን ካየሁት ተነስቼ “ህግን ተከተሉ ይሉናል ! ” እነሱ ግን ህግን አይከተሉም ስል በመረጃ እያስረገጥኩ አጫውታችኋለሁ ብልም ወኔው ከዳኝ. . . እኛ ኢትዮጵያውያን ለሃገራችን ቀናኢ ነን ፣ አሁን አሁን ግን ለሃገሬው ሰው መብት ነጻነት መከበር ብዙም ግድ አለን ብዬ አፊን ሞልቸ ለመናገር ሞራል የለኝም ! ለሰው ልጅ ደህንነት፣ ሰላምና ብልጽግና ቀርቶ ለሰብአዊ መብቱ መከበር ስንተጋ አለመስተዋሉ እየተለመደ ሄዷል ! ግን እኮ ሐገር፤ ምድር ማለት ሰው እኮ ነው ! ሃገሬውን ሰው በዘር በሃይማኖት ሳንለይ ሰብዕናውን ካላከበርነው ካልጠበቅነው ሃገር ያለሰው ምድረ በዳ ነው፣ ሃገር ያለ ሰው ፣ ሰው ያለ ሃገር ምን ትርጉም አለው? ! ብየ ስጠይቅ ችግሩን አወሳስበው እዚህ ያደረሱት ከፍተኛ የመንግስት ሃላፊዎቻችን ለትክክለኛ መፍትሔ የመትጋት ተሞክሮ አሰጋኝና ይህም አስፈራኝ ! አዎ ፈራሁ !
የወገን የሰቆቃ ጥሪ . . .

Ethiopian parliament ratifies new Nile sharing agreement opposed by Egypt

By Associated Press,

 

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s parliament on Thursday ratified an accord that replaces colonial-era deals that awarded Egypt and Sudan the majority of the world’s longest river.
The vote comes amid a bout of verbal jousting between Ethiopia and Egypt after Ethiopia last month started to divert Nile waters for a massive $4.2 billion hydro-electric dam dubbed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Ethiopia’s growing economy frequently suffers from power cuts and needs more electrical capacity. But Egypt fears the dam will mean a diminished share of the Nile, which provides almost all of the desert nation’s water needs.
Egyptian politicians have suggested attacks against Ethiopia to sabotage the dam, and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Monday warned that “all options are open” to challenge Ethiopia’s Nile project.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn responded Tuesday, forcefully vowing “nothing” and “no one” will stop the dam’s construction. He downplayed the prospect of conflict, saying Egypt leaders won’t go to war unless they “go mad.”
African Union head Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on Wednesday urged dialogue and cooperation between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.
A 10-person Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia experts panel concluded that the dam will not “significantly affect” water flow to Egypt and Sudan, according to Ethiopian officials. Sudan said it accepts the outcome of the finding and this week announced that it supports Ethiopia’s project.
Ethiopia’s 547-member parliament unanimously endorsed the new Nile River Cooperative Framework Agreement, an accord already signed by five other Nile River countries.
The accord, sometimes referred to as the Entebbe Agreement, is the product of decade-long negotiations. It was conceived to replace the 1929 treaty written by Britain that awarded Egypt veto power over upstream countries’ Nile projects. Sudan and Egypt signed a deal in 1959 splitting the Nile waters between them without giving other countries consideration.
The new cooperative agreement — signed by Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Burundi — aims to establish a commission to oversee Nile projects. Congo and South Sudan, which succeeded from Sudan in 2011, have announced plans to join the new pact. Eritrea is participating as an observer in the 10-nation Nile Basin Initiative.
Egypt has previously said that it accepts most of the new agreement. But it opposes a clause saying member countries would work to ensure “not to significantly affect the water security of any other Nile Basin State.” Egypt wanted the clause to say countries would not “adversely affect the water security and current uses and rights of any other Nile” states.
Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy Alemayehu Tegenu told parliament that Ethiopia made two bold decisions concerning the dam. The first, he said, was to postpone ratification of the agreement by a year to accommodate Egypt’s request for time until an elected government was in place.
“The second one was to let experts, including from Egypt and Sudan, inspect our Renaissance Dam,” he said. “No other country does this but we did it in cooperation and friendly spirit. But we are seeing how our good intentions are being responded to. We can no longer wait. We need to go ahead with the ratification.”
After ratifying the legislation, lawmakers called on the other five signatory countries to follow suit.
Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam has been under construction for two years on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region near Sudan.
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Who Will Win Over Nile, Egypt or Ethiopia?

by Seyoum Teshome Akele
The Nile case has again started becoming hot among riparian nations, particularly Egypt and Ethiopia, and somehow Sudan, too. This is not the first time we (Ethiopians) happened to witness this kind of superfluous confrontation as well as naïve ownership claim, especially by Egypt, not fully understanding yet the nature and complexity of River Nile, like any other shared international rivers. The first being some 8 or so years back. And the second was again in 2009/10 when most of the upstream countries, including Ethiopia, signed the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) towards creating a more equitable share (and ownership) in using and managing the Nile waters even if it had been really dragged as Egypt kept using different techniques to its deferment.
Here I will focus on some important contributing factors/aspects, including legal perspectives, but setting aside what Egyptian politicians and their water resource “experts” started multiplying, i.e., the use of “power” and “legal” means, in maintaining Egypt’s dominant share of the Nile waters. Also, I’ll see the relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia, and how it has affected the water use for over centuries. And lastly, I will highlight possible ways of addressing the problem of sharing the Nile River, from a scientific perspective, not just among the key stakeholders, in this case Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, but among other co-riparian states too. Because, the River is by its nature the longest and covers as many countries as 10 with an estimated total population of 300 million.
First, Egypt has been until recently succeeding in influencing any water use and development projects in Ethiopia with the help of its influencing power through its well-established links (with donor nations) as well as overly representation or presence in the international institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and the UN. Whereas, Ethiopia has been poorly represented internationally, especially in lending institutions, water institutions, seminars and conferences where stakeholders’ views are shared and taken into account while designing water guiding policies, principles, frameworks and agreements with regard to the allocation of resources (mainly financial and technical) despite the fact that Ethiopia is the major water contributor to its transboundary rivers–particularly Nile towards which it contributes as much water as 86 percent. Of course this poor representation within the most influential global actors such as the World Bank and the UN is not unique to Ethiopia, but to other poor countries in Africa and Asia, proving how injustice and greed rule the world!
Second, Egypt has also managed to clinging over the colonial treaties (1929) which gave Egypt not only in exploiting the largest possible Nile water share ever, but it also gave her the right to veto over any upstream water projects. Accordingly, Egypt has been a hydro-hegemonic state capable of dominating the river basin as a whole.
Third, Ethiopia’s continued civil war and seemingly never-ending internal problem coupled with conflicts in the horn that Egypt has always been involved (be it direct or indirect one, as it was proved in their recent live transmission as if we did not know them yet) gave Egypt the upper hand in sustaining monopolistic use of Nile. Up until now, it is probably in Ethiopia where there are a number of insurgents and strong opposition due to the undemocratic and oppressive nature of the government in power. And here, in my view, the ruling party, more appropriately Woyane, takes the full responsibility. That is why as big a national issue as “Yehidasew Gidib”, where every citizen should have a greater stake on, has been totally politicized and subjected to criticism!
Who would trust a government that betrayed the people and the country—making us landlocked while fighting a senseless war with our brothers and sisters in Eritrea, ceding a great deal of land to Sudan, killing Agnuanks, systematic killing and massive displacement of ethnic Amharas, jailing and harassing ethnic Ormos, Journalists, Opposition members, Activists, etc. Because if we were more stable and democratic, then we would have avoided the loopholes that foreign enemies, such as Egypt, have been able to take advantage of. Even the dam itself has become one of the most controversial issue simply because the government is unrepresentative and least accountable. Otherwise, I stand on my ground that no one will ever dare to oppose any development—especially on Blue Nile (Abay) that we Ethiopians have grown with a great sense of anger and madness for not being able to use it to feed ourselves while others in the downstream have managed to build their economy, and even gone as far as making it appear to be part of their own historical identity.
Nevertheless, thanks to the change in the geo-politics of the horn (including the independence of the Southern Sudan, here partly thanks to the Dergue regime) as well as presence of alternative sources of funding (China), now there is a clear indicator that the power has already been shifting from the downstream (Egypt) to upstream countries. That is why perhaps Egyptian sounded like arrogant and uninformed decision makers who came out mad and frustrated (I know it is their turn!), through their own media, and tell the world that they are terrorist who would like to bomb another sovereign country’s dam or anything they believe is good to cause a destruction. The funny part Egypt thinks Nile is all about Egypt, and sometimes about Ethiopia and Egypt. But, the fact is, it is all about at least the 160,000,000 people who live within the entire basin or 300,000,000 (in the long term) people in the basin countries (Burundi, the DRC, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda)–who would eventually need to use their fair share of the Nile for their socio-economic development. Because, in reality, no one would like to charity his only left money and go hungry while awaiting the alms of others. That would of course be too heavenly, which we happened to have been doing that for Egyptians until now, but not anymore! You Egyptians are too avaricious!
After all, who are the Egyptians to tell us that we should sit and live on less than a dollar a day while they are enjoying with a per capita GNP of at least 1300 USD! Who are they to do whatever they would like in the downstream (including the 1959 quota agreement with Sudan, excluding Ethiopia and the rest basin countries) yet they object any upstream water use which was even signed by the majority of the riparian states in 2010? They also claim that they have got a legal right, which doesn’t existing at all given none of these countries ratified it. Yes there are guiding principles on how to share transboundary rivers, but not as such a golden rules that one needs to strictly abide by. If there were, the Egyptians would have been again the ones to lose as they violate those principles. In fact the UN Convention that Egypt itself did not sign, and so did Ethiopia, reads as follows:
“The 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses is the only treaty governing shared freshwater resources that is of universal applicability. It is a framework convention, in the sense that it provides a framework of principles and rules that may be applied and adjusted to suit the characteristics of particular international watercourses. Some key guiding principles set out in the document include: the equitable and reasonable utilization of international watercourses; the application of appropriate measures to prevent harm to other States sharing an international watercourse; and the principle of prior notification of planned measures. For the Convention to become legally binding, at least 35 nations must ratify it.”
There is no country on planet Earth that lets its water flow untouched for the sake of people down the stream. I must quote what a US hydrologist who did so much field work on Blue Nile (Abay) has said, “it makes no sense at all that America has to use up all its water sources, leaving almost nothing to flow down to Mexico, and on the other hand Ethiopian farmers have to go hungry while the richest and longest river flows in their neighborhood only to nourish lives in Egypt.’’ Who are Egyptians to tell us that water development such as hydroelectric dam will reduce their water flow and hence we should revert to the erratic rainfall while they have done nothing to conserve and reduce waste from the water that is already out there in their forsaken dams and agricultural fields?
According to Food and Agricultural Organization(FAO), Egypt is actually having 20 billion cubic meter water sources (such as underground, rain water, waste, reuse of agricultural drainage, etc.) besides to the 55.5 billion cubic meter which was allocated in its 1959 agreement with Sudan. And out of these, much is used for agriculture (the most water consuming) activities. Yet, they want to oppose a dam which is believed to be a very efficient and effective way of regulating the water itself as it reduces siltation apart from its being very less prone to evaporation, unlike to what is the case in Cairo (Aswan Dam).
Now it is time for Egypt to recognize the shift in power, and hence benefit from cooperation than trying their terrorist style of destabilizing Ethiopia (including causing bloodshade between Muslim and Christian Ethiopians who have a long history of peaceful coexistence–the Agaro slaughtering of priests and kids while they were in church service in 2007/8 is a case in point). War has never been and will never be an option to dealing with a shared water resource, but COOPERATION. Because it is practically impossible for Egypt to concur Ethiopia (which is the only way, though never a viable option, to control Blue Nile-Abay in Ethiopia, so to speak). Of course, according to researches, no country has fought a war over water, other than Israeli that did occupy Palestine for the sake of Water. Even if it happens to be initiated, perhaps for political purpose, from both sides, definitely the loser is going to be Egypt. I did not mean in terms of casualties (which would cost us so much, because we have been in war almost since our very existence—and every Ethiopian has that sense of nationalistic bravery and independence in his/her blood. But that helped countries like Egypt benefit at least in the short run, even being under the rule of their slave masters.)
Lastly, I would like to recap here (as I, too, believe are the right ways) the suggestions made by a Conflict and Peace Research Professor, Ashok Swian, who also studied Nile for long, should Egypt and Sudan (which is already interestingly cooperating with out wanting Egypt to decide on her behalf, which has become another head ache to Egyptians) in order to have a more sustainable and equitable use of Nile. These are:

• Supporting and working on a more comprehensive strategy, through Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), for mutual benefit sharing,