Ethiopia's big Nile dam is compared to Hoover Dam

ASSOSA, Ethiopia (AP) — The book, a history of Hoover Dam, fell from the dashboard as Simegnew Bekele drove through the rugged mountains where the engineer is leading construction work on Ethiopia's massive Nile River dam.

"This book," he said, picking it up, "I am reading it now ... It's a fascinating story. This dam too (has) a history one day someone will write about."

Simegnew's sentiment illustrated the great expectations of a dam that has raised tensions between this Horn of Africa nation and Egypt, which is concerned the ongoing project will diminish its share of Nile River waters. Reading the book, a gift from Ethiopians he met in New York recently, the engineer has come to see similarities between the Ethiopian dam-in-progress and Hoover Dam, the Great Depression-era project that in its time became an icon of American enterprise under difficult economic conditions.
"Hoover Dam was constructed when America was (in) depression," Simegnew said. "It was an enormous success. I am sure our dam too will herald a bright future for this country and also for the whole region."
Despite the concerns of Nile-dependent Egypt, Ethiopia —whose economy suffers frequent power failures —has vowed to proceed with the dam that would become the biggest hydro-electric power station in Africa. In May, Ethiopia started to divert Nile waters to make way for the $4.2 billion dam which, when it is finished, will have the capacity to produce 6,000 megawatts of electricity. Ethiopia's national electricity corporation says potential buyers of Ethiopia's electricity will include the two Sudans, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda and even wary Egypt.
In Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz region near Sudan, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the capital, workers labor under intensely hot conditions and gigantic machines smash boulders in order to make the dam a reality by July 2017. Even as Egyptian and Ethiopian diplomats talk over the dam's impact on the volume of Blue Nile waters flowing to Egypt, construction work is proceeding apace here in a sign of Ethiopia's determination to resist Egyptian pressure. Some 5,000 Ethiopians, joined by 200 expatriates from 20 nations, work in shifts 24 hours a day. Visitors here have to go through multiple security checkpoints that are manned by soldiers wearing "anti-guerrilla" tags on their fatigues. The Italian construction firm Salini is building the dam while the Chinese company Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co. Ltd. is building power lines for it.
Simegnew, the engineer, told reporters last week that some of the diverted Nile waters are accumulating in a temporary coffer dam, and officials say that the filling of the reservoir will start next year. Power lines to connect the dam's output with the national grid are being put up, and cables from the national grid extend to Djibouti, Sudan and, later, Kenya.
"During the filling of the reservoir, which will take five to six years, we won't have any fixed impoundment rate to make sure the water flow downstream will not be significantly affected," Simegnew said.
Ethiopia's Nile project has won the support of upstream countries in East and Central Africa that have been meeting under the banner of the Nile Basin Initiative, which endorsed the new Nile River Cooperative Framework Agreement. That accord, ratified last month by Ethiopia's parliament, was conceived to replace the 1929 treaty written by Britain that awarded Egypt veto power over other countries' Nile projects. Sudan and Egypt signed a deal in 1959 splitting the Nile waters between them without giving other countries consideration. Egyptian politicians have suggested attacks against Ethiopia to sabotage the dam, and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi last month warned that "all options are open" to challenge the project.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said last week that, while he was willing to accommodate Egypt's concerns, the continued constructing of the dam and its size are "red lines" that will not be crossed by the negotiations.

If the dam is completed without incident, it would be a remarkable achievement for Ethiopia's leaders who dreamed of something big and wanted an equally grand name for the dam. Originally a secret project called X, the dam was later called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
David Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, said he doubted Egypt's dispute with Ethiopia over the Nile River would degenerate into armed conflict.
"Following long periods of silence, there are periodic outbursts as we have seen in the past month," said Shinn, who is now a professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. "I expect this trend to continue but not to result in conflict between the two countries."
The Ethiopian government, which secured a $1 billion loan from China for power lines for the Nile dam, says it will continue to raise more funds domestically. Government employees have for the second time paid their one-month salary to buy bonds the government is selling. Private banks are ordered by the central bank to buy bonds worth millions of the Ethiopian birr.
Yilma Seleshi of the Ethiopian Water Resource Institute says the dam would consistently bring in hard currency for at least a century, returning the massive investment it is requiring. In his study presented during a meeting at Ethiopia's Addis Ababa University last week, he estimated that Ethiopia would earn 2 million euros in daily income from power sales to neighboring countries.

Obama warns tyrants in Africa

AFP    
Cape Town - US President Barack Obama warned on Sunday that Africa could only fulfil its rising potential with leaders who serve their people, not tyrants who enrich themselves.In a strident call for democratic change and good governance, Obama used the political legacy of ailing Nelson Mandela and South Africa's emergence from grim years of apartheid as proof that freedom will ultimately prevail.
"In too many countries, the actions of thugs and warlords and human traffickers hold back the promise of Africa," Obama said at a speech at the University of Cape Town. "America cannot put a stop to these tragedies alone, and you don't expect us to. That is a job for Africans. But we can help you and we will help you," he said, announcing major new US programmes to boost electricity and health care. "History shows us that progress is only possible where governments exist to serve their people and not the other way around," said Obama, in a line that drew loud and prolonged cheers from his audience of more than 1 000 people. The speech was delivered from the same spot where American political icon Robert F Kennedy delivered his famous "ripple of hope" speech in 1966, which called on students to decry the "racial inequality of apartheid".
Obama's goal was to inspire a new generation of Africans with the belief that they could ignite political change and the potential of their continent. He slammed leaders who "steal or kill or disenfranchise voters", saying that the ultimate lesson of South Africa was that such brutal tactics will not work. "So long as parts of Africa continue to be ravaged by war and mayhem, opportunity and democracy cannot take root," said Obama. "Across the continent, there are places where still, fear often prevails," Obama said, warning of "senseless terrorism" from Mali to Mogadishu. "From Congo to Sudan, conflicts fester," Obama said, hitting out at those who argue that American calls for democracy and freedom are "intrusive" or "meddling". He also condemned the rule of Robert Mugabe in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where he said the "promise of liberation gave way to the corruption of power and the collapse of the economy". Like the rest of Obama's trip to South Africa, the speech was rich in emotion when he mentioned his hero Mandela, who lies critically ill in a Pretoria hospital. "You have shown us how a prisoner can become president," Obama said.