Egypt's issues with GERD

 

To understand Egypt’s problem with the building of the dam we have to look at the colonial ties to ownership of the Nile. A piece published in ‘The Conversation’ discusses the colonial past that is at the root of the dam politics at play now. From this article I learnt that after the British occupation of Egypt they still had strong influence in the country till 1956 when the last of the British troops left. Due to this the Nile was mainly managed by the British who benefitted from the irrigation the Nile provided in Egypt for the textiles industry (The Conversation, 2021). In 1929 Egypt signed an agreement with Britain that at the time gave them veto power over any construction on the Nile and its tributaries that would affect the flow downstream. This was followed by a 1959 agreement between Sudan and Egypt that effectively allocated all the water to said countries, ignoring the water requirements of the 9 other riparian countries upstream, despite them supplying the water (Kimenyi and Mbaku, 2015). These agreements from a different time, are seen as outdated and unfair for the other countries that could use the Nile for development but are limited by an agreement they didn’t sign. However, from Egypt’s point of view these give them the protection they need due to their heavy reliance on the Nile for freshwater.

 

Egypt’s initial issue with the Dam was the filling period it would have, and because talks over the past 10 years didn’t result in progress the Dam has now been filled, and now their new focus is on the management of the water in periods of drought. The fear of greater pressure on water resources that this Dam has created has frayed hydro political relations between the countries, and with 95% of freshwater coming from the Nile, Egypt find it difficult to look past their own water insecurity to see the developmental benefits of the Dam (El-Nashar and Elyamany, 2018).

 

Linking back to the last blog where I discussed the emotion held by the nations over the development of this Dam, I believe that the historical claim that Egypt has to the Nile has led to an inflexible perspective of how the Dam could benefit them. This is because the overwhelming thought is anger at Ethiopia for starting a project upstream without any consultation, which they believe to be their right. During talks Egypt seem unwilling to give up their rights afforded to them by the 1929 and 1959 treaties, but for the upstream countries this is necessary for a new treaty that would see the Nile have modern governance with all 11 countries being allocated water resources. In the next blog I will briefly discuss Sudan’s views on the Dam and then look at how both Sudan and Egypt may potentially be affected by drought with the new Dam, by looking at academic articles that model the Niles response to drought with this Dam in place.

Comments

  1. Tristan AntcliffJanuary 7, 2024 at 12:43 PM

    How responsible are Egypt with their attitude towards maintaining dominance over the Nile for a break down in negotiations with Ethiopia?

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    Replies
    1. SienaJanuary 7, 2024 at 5:00 PM

      Thanks for the comment. I think their reluctance to negotiate a new agreement, alongside Sudan has been a big cause in the breakdown. However, Ethiopia are still at fault as they aren't willing to take Egypt and Sudan's fear of water insecurity seriously enough. That was shown by them filling the Dam over four years instead of over 12 years like Egypt wanted for greater water security.

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