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Ethiopian Dam over Blue Nile Raises Specter of Conflict with Egypt

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Jacques Neriah - Egypt's Islamist President Mohammad Morsi threatened on June 10 that "all options were open" if Ethiopia would divert the waters of the Blue Nile, which originates from Lake Tana in Ethiopia, with its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project, to be constructed by Italians and partly funded by China. But Morsi appeared to leave room for compromise. He did not renew an Egyptian call to stop work at the dam and described Ethiopia as a "friendly state." Ethiopia's decision to construct the dam challenges a colonial-era agreement that had allocated both Egypt and Sudan rights to the Nile water. That agreement, first signed in 1929, took no account of the eight other African nations along the river and its basin. While the dam itself may not reduce the flow greatly, the filling of the reservoir behind any new dam means cutting the river's flow for a time. Evaporation from reservoirs can also permanently reduce water flowing downstream. The Egyptian air force does have the capacity to carry out a massive strike at the dam.
2013-06-21 00:00:00
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