Credit - EPA
Egypt President Hosni Mubarak meets President Obama. For decades, Egypt has received billions in US military aid annually for being the only pro-Israel Arab country.
Newsweek: Egypt blocking Ethiopia funding for Nile projects
- Ethiopia is the
source of 60 to 80 percent of the Nile's flow, but uses less than 1
percent of it because Egypt says no to large-scale irrigation projects.
(NEWSWEEK) East africa is in the midst of a
devastating drought--in Ethiopia, the dry spell has left close to 14
million people dependent on food aid. When assigning blame, aid workers
and politicians finger the usual suspects: lack of rain, climate
change, and an underdeveloped agricultural sector. But they're
forgetting one: Egypt.
Thanks to a 1929 agreement between
Britain--acting on behalf of its East African colonies--and a newly
independent Egypt, Cairo holds the rights to two thirds of the Nile's
water, as well as veto power over upstream projects. The disparity is
stark: Ethiopia is the source of 60 to 80 percent of the Nile's flow,
but uses less than 1 percent of it because Egypt says no to large-scale
irrigation projects. And though Ethiopians might be tempted to
circumvent the anachronistic arrangement, they can't.
Egyptian
officials work "behind closed doors" to block funding for upstream
projects, according to David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to
Ethiopia. The Nile states want to re-negotiate the ancient treaty, but
Egyptian officials have stalled for years. And there's no sign they'll
slake their neighbors' thirst any time soon.
- International Rivers: Reject Gibe 3 Dam
- European bank withdraws funding from Ethiopia’s dam
- JPMorgan Chase urged to reject loan for Ethiopian dam
- Massive famine stalks Ethiopia
