Egypt demands Ethiopia halt Nile dam, upping stakes

Reuters    
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will demand Ethiopia stop building a dam on one of the main tributaries of the Nile, a senior government aide said on Wednesday, ramping up a confrontation over the project that Egypt fears will affect its main source of water.Ethiopia set off alarm bells in Cairo last week when it began diverting a stretch of the river to make way for the $4.7 billion hydroelectric plant.
Countries that share the river have argued over the use of its waters for decades - and analysts have repeatedly warned that the disputes could eventually boil over into war.
The high stakes involved were underlined on Monday when senior Egyptian politicians were caught on camera advising President Mohamed Mursi to take hostile action to stop the project, and one went as far as suggesting Cairo destroy the dam.
Egypt, which has been involved in years of troubled diplomacy with Ethiopia and other upstream countries, said Ethiopia must now halt work on the dam."Demanding that Ethiopia stop construction of the dam it plans to build on the Blue Nile will be our first step," said Pakinam el-Sharkawy, the presidential aide for political affairs, in comments carried on the state news agency MENA.
"The national committee that will be formed to deal with this issue will determine the steps that Egypt has to take."
No one from the Ethiopian government was immediately available to comment.
CAUGHT ON CAMERA
Senior Egyptian politicians called in to discuss the crisis with Mursi on Monday were apparently unaware their meeting was being broadcast live on television.
The leader of Egypt's Ghad party, Ayman Nour, suggested spreading false reports that Egypt was building up its air power.
"We can 'leak' news information claiming that Egypt plans to buy advanced aircraft to increase its aerial presence etc., to put pressure, even if not realistic, on diplomatic discourse," he said.
Younis Makhyoun, leader of the Salafi Islamist al-Nour party, was filmed saying Egypt should back rebels in Ethiopia or, as a last resort, destroy the dam.
The broadcast triggered widespread ridicule, particularly among Egypt's vast army of users of social networks.
"Among Mursi's achievements: the first 'secret' meeting in the world to be aired live," read one joke that made the rounds.
Egypt has so far not apologised to Ethiopia for the broadcast - el-Sharkawy's main response on Twitter was to say she was sorry members of the meeting did not know they were being broadcast.
The most prominent expression of regret came from leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, who was invited to the meeting but did not attend.
"Sincere apologies to the people and governments of Ethiopia and Sudan for the irresponsible utterances at the president's national dialogue," he tweeted.
Ethiopia has laid out plans to invest more than $12 billion in harnessing the rivers that run through its rugged highlands to become Africa's leading power exporter.
The centrepiece of the plan is the Grand Renaissance Dam being built in the Benishangul-Gumuz region bordering Sudan. Now 21 percent complete, it will eventually have a 6,000 megawatt capacity, the government says, equivalent to six nuclear power plants.
Cairo argues that Ethiopia has not properly considered the dam's impact on the river, saying that a report put together by experts from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia is insufficient.

Ethiopia summons Egypt's ambassador over Nile dam attack proposals

The Associated Press     
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday it is demanding an official explanation from Egypt after comments from politicians suggesting Egypt attack or sabotage a Nile River dam Ethiopia is building.Dina Mufti, a spokesman for the ministry, said that Egypt’s ambassador to Ethiopia has been summoned to explain the “hostile remarks.” The spokesman said Ethiopia is awaiting a response.
Ethiopia a week ago started diverting the flow of the Nile River to make way for its $4.2 billion hydroelectric plant, dubbed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Egypt fears the dam will mean a diminished share of the Nile River.Egyptian political leaders who met their president on Monday proposed aiding rebels against the Addis Ababa government. Sabotaging the dam itself was also mentioned by politicians who appeared not to know their meeting was being televised.Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, in a statement Thursday, said Egypt will seek to coordinate with Sudan and Ethiopia over the issue of the dam going forward. Amr also said Egypt’s water security cannot be ignored or hurt.“There is a large window for dialogue and discussion between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to arrive at the ideal form for the dam that ensures safeguarding Egypt’s water interests, realizing the development objectives of all three nations and avoiding any negative effects that may hurt downstream nations,” he said.
On Wednesday, a close aide of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi announced that work was under way to create a national commission to deal with the issue. She said demanding that Ethiopia halts work at the dam will be given priority, but added that the decision to make a formal request will rest with the proposed commission.Another Morsi aide, Ayman Ali, said there was no proof that Monday’s televised remarks have hurt Egypt’s position.“It may have actually served the Egyptian position because the views stated, while some were radical, have shown the extent of alarm felt by the Egyptians,” Ali said.Dina said Ethiopia’s construction plans have been “vindicated” by a 10-man panel of experts who found after a year of study that the renaissance dam will not significantly affect Egypt or Sudan. The panel was composed of four international experts and two from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.Dina said Ethiopia is ready to negotiate with both Egypt and Sudan for “mutual benefits.”

Voice from the grave

by Yilma Bekele
Meles Zenawi is dead. Meles Zenawi is alive. I am afraid in our case both statements are true. We saw the tyrant being buried or placed six foot under and the extraordinary sendoff orchestrated by his politburo in living color. The whole country was on stand still for a week or so to bury the warlord who was in the freezer for a month or so. We witnessed the bullying power of the TPLF party that forced every department, every keble and every household to send a representative and show sorrow for a person hated and reviled by all living Ethiopians.
Well he is not really gone. He is still directing the show from hell or wherever evil resides. It has been said that he vowed to leave us with the seeds of conflict, hate and chaos for a long time after he is gone. It looks like he is right. There is no escaping his presence. I don’t mean the life size posters of his ugly face in every corner of our country. I am referring to his toxic and useless ideas including his insane and childish plans that are trying to drive our politics and economy without him.
I am not talking about his ever chameleon Constitution that is still used to whip the opposition. I am not pointing out to the Kilil system that is creating a country of strangers. There is no need to mention the Keble system that is making every household an extension of the security service. Today I am focused on the use of the king of kings of all rivers, the great nurturer of ancient civilizations the one and only Abay River and its unfortunate use by the evil one to hurt our poor country.
The last week all the talk has been about Abay. We are fortunate to have so many rivers flowing out of our high escarpments that if you look at Google map of Africa you marvel and see how God has favored our ancient country. Our high mountains kept us isolated and free from invaders while nurturing our people when all around us suffered from lack of water. The great Wabishebele, the giving Awash, the beautiful Genalle, the fierce Tekeze and Mereb the homily Gibe are but just a few of our mothers milk flowing to keep us and our neighbors happy and strong.
What can be said about the great Abay? The mighty Abay is not just an Ethiopian phenomena. Good old Abay is the mother of the Pharos and the great Egyptian civilization. The wonder of the world owes its existence to the highlands of Ethiopia that made it possible for such a civilization to flourish. The Pyramids of Giza wouldn’t exist without the wealth made possible by the river Nile. Our Abay contributes two thirds of the Nile water supply.
Mount Gishe at 10,000 feet floats on a lake according to the priests that bless the spring that gives birth to the mighty Abay. It is here Abay starts its thousands of miles journey until it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Abay with its deep gorges numerous waterfalls protected our land from European colonialists, Turkish invaders, Italian fascists and all those that wished ill to our fair land. From mount Gishe to the Sudanese border alone Abay meanders along for over 500 miles (800kM) never in a straight line like most rivers but encircling and hugging our land as if it does not want to leave. Our music and literature is full of praise for the mighty Abay and its force is recognized by all those who come near it and its power felt all over our country.
It is none other than this historic river that today is tossed around like a beach ball by Woyane bastards for their own useless dream and close your eyes lets us fool you story. This what Meles Zenawi planed before his death and this is what he is witnessing from the grave. When Woyane pulled the dam on Abay plan three years ago their leader knew it was his last goodbye wish to our nation that would seal his legacy of evil. It was never mentioned in the five year transformation blueprint they are so proud of. It was never discussed because the idea is so ridiculous any governing body will laugh it off. Thus Meles and company brought it out the last minute and claimed it was kept a secret. Why and from whom is not clear yet. But they damn well knew it was a crazy idea and no one will take it seriously.
Why do you think it is such an insane idea and not even worth refuting? Very simple, our nation is poor and living on welfare even for the food we eat we rely on alms thus no big and complex project like building a dam is possible without the help of outsiders whether the West or the East. No outside Bank or foreign government will finance such a project without adequate studies. Building a dam on a river that crosses an international border complicates the situation in a very big way.
Thus when the warlord came up with the idea that this humongous project was going to be financed by local resources it was time to appreciate the size of his balls for such bravado and empty jive. The claim is so bizarre there is no need to refute such bold face stupidity other than shaking ones’ head and keeping our collective mouth shut. People that survive on a few dollars a day, that look for outsiders to feed them and watch their young and able fleeing their home in droves facing unknown danger are going to save enough to finance a multi-million dollar project is not a good idea to put forward and wait for contributions to pour in. Logic says it ain’t going to happen even when hell freezes over.
Why do you think the dictator pulled this crap out of his hat knowing his days are numbered? He was focused on three important aspects of the future of our country after he is gone and both are shaping as he planned. One is harvesting more enemies for our poor land. Alive he has already managed to get our country entangled into two costly wars. The war with Eritrea that should not have happened has already cost us dearly in both money and lives. Over eighty thousand Ethiopians died and over twenty thousand suffered major injuries. Ethiopia emptied all its foreign reserve buying arms with cash since no weapon dealer accepts credit. For all that investment we won a barren piece of territory that today sits in no mans’ land.
The incursion into Somalia was a no win situation and it was not even in our national interest at all. The dictator to solidify his standing as a ‘terrorist fighter’ and use the situation to clobber the opposition at home had no qualms using Ethiopian lives for his selfish means in order to stay in power. Our solders committed so many war crimes in Somalia the bad felling between the two peoples will take years to wash away. Neighbors that will live for generations in close proximity do not normally engage in such activity that will create animosity and hate between our two people but our great leader was not concerned about that and he showed it by his callous decision.
The second reason for Abay dam madness is to shop for more enemies for our country. You see the idea of building a dam on Abay is not an original idea. Both the Imperial government and the Military regime have exhaustively studied the subject. There are plenty of documents to show their efforts for the project. They have reason why they did not pursue the matter. Today the Woyane regime propaganda makes it look like Meles came up with an original idea and they even coined a catchy phrase ‘Abayen ye defere jegna’ to hype the silly project. So what did he do? He came out with a dam project without asking the rest of Ethiopia or our experts to sit down and define what exactly needs to be done in our nation’s interest. We did not see Ethiopian engineers, hydrologist, geologists, economists, and environmental scientists, political and diplomatic experts being consulted before the ‘secret’ plan was presented in a take it or shut up situation.
Logically a dam on Abay river is a concern to all those upstream countries that rely on the river for survival. Of course the Egyptians did not take the news kindly. Is that a surprise? Put yourself in their shoes would you like it if someone decides to curtail your life line? Our country is not so strong and mighty that it could unilaterally take actions that would negatively affect the lives of so many millions. It was only yesterday in the news that the USA and Mexico signed a negotiated deal on the use of the Colorado river that starts in the rocky mountains of Wyoming and empties into the Baja California in Mexico. It is a shared river and the two governments consult each other on its use. That is what the Egyptians are asking us to do. That is what international treaties require us to do. This political chest thumping and arrogance behavior is not a sign of a great nation that wants to live in peace and harmony with its neighbors far and close. Meles Zenawi planted the seeds of this conflict before his exit.

The Anguish of Higher Education Students in Ethiopia

by Zelalem Abate
E-mail: zelalem.abate1@gmail.com

Academic activities such as studying, teaching, inventing, leading, administrating and other responsibilities in a university or college require at a minimum academic freedom. Unfortunately, however, academic freedom in higher education institutions of Ethiopia is drier than the Sahara desert. Ethiopians who have been part of these institutions as a student, teacher, or any other workers have been grilled by this desert. Although, no one can tell better than we, the victims of this inferno; national and international human rights organizations have documented the absence of freedom of expression, association, and assembly in the colleges and Universities of Ethiopia⁽¹⁾.

Addis Ababa University

Higher-education students’ activities are monitored routinely by government agents who are registered as students while, in fact, their primary mission is spying for the minority government. These spy-government agents have total authority to report to the unprofessional and notorious police not only students who criticize the way the country or the government is run but also any students whom they suspect have such idea. Furthermore, the spy agents play the governments divide and rule game by promoting fight among students on ethnic line ⁽²⁾. As a result students live in fear of the government and each other. Only students loyal to the Ethiopian Peoples Democracy Front (EPRDF) in general and the Tigrai Libration Front (TPLF), in particular, could escape this harassment although they themselves could spy each other as well.
The TPLF Spy agents create a climate of fear in colleges and universities and exert strong pressure on every student to enroll as a party member as soon as the student joins the institution. Each student is supposed to be member of one of the four political parties which include the TPLF (the mastermind of ethnic division), Oromo People Democracy Organization (OPDO), Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) and Southern Peoples Democratic Front (SEPDF) ⁽³⁾. Whether they like it or not, party membership should be based on ethnicity-nothing else. Then, these member students form campus- student committees. The campus-student committees are run by four chairpersons who came from the minority TPLF and the other three pseudo organizations. These paid TPLF cadres who run these campus committees are called “campus coordinators”. The campus coordinators are not real students but merciless individuals who are in need of money and other benefits in exchange of their spying service to the government.
The government spy agency and “security forces” (informed by campus coordinators and other spies) harass students who are unwilling to be party members physically and mentally. State security forces illegally detain and sometimes torture activist students who want to form their own non-ethnic based student unions or who just demonstrate to express their frustration in the campus. For TPLF, students who discuss their fundamental human rights and issues about their country are crossing the”red lines”. As a result, these students could be beaten, arrested and tortured. TPLF government also spreads verbal terror among the students. For example, they randomly call students on their cell phones to warn them they are being watched and followed. Furthermore, they call students’ parents and scare them to stop their children from “causing trouble”. What the TPLF calls trouble is freedom of expression, assembly and organization.
As most Ethiopians know, the shameful TPLF government divides our society in to anti-development and development groups. For example, for this lawless government, the business men who give a chunk of bribe to its cadres are developmental businessmen and those despise TPLFs racially intoxicated policies and do not give bribes are anti-developmental businessmen. Similarly, there are developmental and anti-developmental students. Obviously, the pro-developmental students are the EPDRF members and anti-developmental students are those who are unwilling to be party members. Non-cadre or non-TPLF affiliated students are relentlessly told (through TPLF cadres) that they could not get job if they do not have EPRDF membership ID card. They could also be evicted from their education in one or another way ⁽⁴⁾.
Privileges for abroad further education are