Ethiopians Baffled By Trump Renaissance Dam Remarks

US President Donald Trump’s jibe at Ethiopia concerning its USD five billion hydropower dam scheme on one of the main tributaries of the Nile River sent shockwaves across Ethiopian communities both in and outside the country this week.

Ethiopians are voicing serious concerns over what many describe as uncalled for statements about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) made by the US President during a meeting with NATO officials in Washington.

According to Trump, the dam is “closing up water going to the Nile”, which he described as “a very important source of income and life … to take that away is pretty incredible. But we think we are going to have that solved very quickly.”

Ethiopia is counting on the dam to help extricate its population from poverty, while Egypt claims it may rob it of its “historical” right to the Nile waters.

“I think if I am Egypt, I want to have water in the Nile and we are working on that,” said Trump.

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People like Fekahmed Negash, a former executive director at Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) of the Nile Basin Initiative, see Trump’s comments as far too incendiary to ignore. The expert is one of the many Ethiopians who say President Trump’s remarks appeared as a categorically partisan stance, though they were not unexpected from a populist leader.

“President Trump held grudges against Ethiopia for not adhering to his self-styled mediation efforts between Ethiopia and Egypt eight years ago during his first presidency,” Fekahmed, who had also served as director of the Transboundary Rivers Affairs at the Ministry of Water, told The Reporter. “The Egyptians got the better of him to take a stand that Ethiopia should sign a binding treaty with Egypt and Sudan regarding the GERD.”

Ethiopia cannot and must not sign such a deal, says Fekahmed.

“That would preclude its long term development needs using its own resources and inside its own territory,” he said, adding the US President omitted the fact that the dam has not stopped the Nile from flowing downstream.

The expert observes that commitments made to Egypt by the US several decades ago, including commitments under the Camp David Treaty, are weighing on the US government’s stand on disputes between Ethiopia and Egypt on the Nile.

Egypt and Sudan go by the 1959 colonial era water sharing agreement that gave Egypt the rights to 55.5 billion cubic meters while granting Sudan 18.5 billion cubic meters of Nile waters. Ethiopia, whose highlands account for 86 percent of the river’s flow, was not part of the British-enforced treaty.

Ethiopia embarked on the construction of the 5175 megawatt dam in 2011, through entirely domestic resources mobilization whereby citizens and foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin buy bonds.

Trump’s claim that his country funded the megaproject has baffled all observers, and pushed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a rebuttal stating the dam’s construction was financed entirely through domestic resource mobilization.

A couple of weeks ago, during a parliamentary question-and-answer session, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) announced the dam is scheduled for inauguration at the end of the rainy season, likely sometime in September. The PM invited the leaders of Nile riparian countries, including those of Egypt and Sudan, to attend the inauguration ceremony.

Egypt was quick to reject the invite.