Posts

Why is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam contentious?

The Economist | The project has been a source of disputes in north-east Africa for a decade DAMS HAVE several uses. They generate electricity, store water for crop irrigation and help to prevent floods. They can also cause dispute and heartache—for example, over damage to the environment or the displacement of people whose homes are […]

Sudan: Further GERD filling ‘direct threat’ to national security

Al Jazeera | Irrigation and water resources minister says the unilateral move by Ethiopia in July would ‘threaten the lives of half the population in central Sudan’. Sudan has said neighbouring Ethiopia should not unilaterally go ahead with the further filling a massive dam on the Blue Nile River, saying such a move would threaten […]

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam generates grand hostility with Egypt

Daily Maverik 168 | Can SA help to defuse the tensions growing over Ethiopia’s giant project on the Nile? Egypt fears it will cut water flow, on which it depends. But Sudan and Ethiopia need the power. The clock is ticking. South Africa has been quietly but urgently trying to defuse what many fear is […]

As Ethiopia fills its Nile dam, regional rivalries overflow

The Christian Monitor | When African Union-mediated talks between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan over a Nile River dam broke down yet again last month, it didn’t mark a new disagreement over sharing vital water resources. Rather, it was a case of regional rivalries trumping understandings about science and cooperation that have been laid out by […]

Rising tension as Ethiopia and Sudan deadlocked on border dispute

Al Jazeera | Bickering over contested farmland along the border has in recent weeks deteriorated into armed clashes. Age-old territorial claims are threatening to embroil Ethiopia and Sudan into armed conflict, as bickering over disputed strips of farmland in recent weeks has boiled over into the most serious escalation of border tensions in years. The […]

Egypt: Countries must reach binding deal on Nile dam

MEMO | Amid regional tension over the project, countries along the Nile must reach a legally binding agreement on the filling and operations of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD), or Hidase Dam, according to Egypt’s president, Anadolu Agency reports. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi made the remarks late Saturday during an official visit to South Sudan’s capital […]

Foreign meddling as a source of state fragility in Ethiopia

MEMO Opinion | State fragility is a multidimensional concept that is often characterized by deficiencies in one or more areas of the core functions of the state: legitimacy, authority (competing claimants to power), and capacity (weak capacity to provide basic government functions). State fragility poses a serious problem for many developing countries as it leads […]

Ethiopia Moves Artillery to Sudanese Border After Deadly Clashes

Bloomberg | Sudan delegation met Saudi officials to discuss crisis. Tension adds to dispute over construction of giant hydro dam.  Ethiopia moved heavy weapons to disputed territory on its border with Sudan, according to people familiar with the matter. The military build-up in an area known as the al-Fashqa triangle signals increasing tensions, after deadly clashes […]

How Egypt is supporting Sudan in border conflict

Al-Monitor — A delegation from the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, headed by Lt. Gen. Shamseldin al-Kabashi and Director of the General Intelligence Service Jamal Abdul Majeed, visited Cairo Jan. 14, where they met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss the latest developments on the border conflict with Ethiopia and the military operations led by the […]