South Sudan blames Ethiopia over recent “diplomatic row”

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

January 27, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) – A South Sudanese official said Ethiopia is to be blamed for any diplomatic row caused by water disputes among Nile basin countries.

Peter Garang Malual, who is an irrigation ministry official in Juba said that the recent crisis between countries sharing the Nile water was caused by Ethiopia, accusing Ethiopia of building its massive Dam on the Nile without taking permission from Egypt.

“Well to be honest, the blame lay squarely on them ‘Ethiopians’, they rushed to build the dam without consultation or approval from Egypt, that is unacceptable in international diplomacy” Malual told the reporter.

The official said Egypt had the right to protect its interests in the Nile and so does any other country in the region adding that “Ethiopia should not blame South Sudan for that problem”.

After South Sudan president’s recent visit to Cairo, a number of news outlets reported that South Sudan and Egypt’s presidents, signed on what reports referred it was a “dirty deal” aimed to sabotage Ethiopia from completing construction of its Renaissance Dam on the river Nile.

According to the unconfirmed reports, South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir agreed to allow Ethiopian opposition groups operate in South Sudan.

Juba denied the allegations saying Kiir’s visit to Cairo was was only intended to consolidate the countries bilateral ties.

However Malual was quoted as saying that Kiir’s visit was also to show the Egyptian people that South Sudan government will stand with them in the face of any threat be it from any country in the region or beyond.

“Our President told the Egyptians that we are ready to stand with them against any threat from Ethiopia, the region or even beyond, we cannot compromise on such issues of close relations,” said Peter Garang Malual an Advisor at the ministry of Irrigation.

Malual said his government still stands by any agreements with the Egyptian government, saying Egypt has been giving more support to South Sudan compared to other countries in the region.

“We stand by the agreement, those who do not want it, is now there own problems, they cannot threatened us, we are not worried about anything” he added.

Ethiopian officials have previously accused Egyptian undisclosed organizations of giving support to banned Ethiopian rebels, to cause instability and bring regime change in the horn of Africa’s nation.

South Sudan’s Water and Irrigation ministry reportedly receives big sum of financial support from Cairo in return for its support to Egypt’s position on its historic water rights on Nile River.

Malual said the blame for any regional instability would be put on the Ethiopian government.

“Any blame will have to be put on them…… ‘Ethiopian’, they need to admit their mistakes, they are the ones who start this misunderstandings due to lack of consultations by their government, they did not get the permission”

Egypt sees the dam project as a major security threat as it fears the construction of the dam would eventually diminish its water share from the Nile River.

When completed, the $4.1 billion dam project, which is being built along the Nile in Benishangul Gumuz region near the Sudanese border, will have a power generation capacity of 6,000 megawatts.

The dam project is currently around 60% completed and turbines that are needed to generate power are being installed

Ethiopia which is investing billions of dollars on building a number of hydro-power plants, aims to become a renewable energy hub of the region.

Ethiopia plans to export large amounts of clean and cheap hydro-power-processed electricity to its neighbours, other African countries and even to the Middle East and beyond.

The ambitious plan is part of the horn of Africa nation’s efforts to propel in becoming a middle-income country by 2025.

Construction of the power plant is seen by Ethiopians as having a vital role in transforming the economy of the country and alleviate poverty.

The Nile River is a lifeline to some 80% of Egyptians and the desert North African nation fears Ethiopia’s huge dam project will ultimately diminish its historic water rights.

In 2013, Ethiopia and Egypt have been locked in a bitter war of wards after Egyptian politicians were caught on camera proposing sabotage, including an air strike to halt the project.

However, tensions eased after Cairo and Addis Ababa engaged in a number of positive discussions along with Sudan which led to a cooperation deal signed in March 2015 in Khartoum. Ethiopia insists the dam will not harm the interests of Sudan and Egypt rather provide economic benefits.

Ethiopia’s Nile dam will be Africa’s largest and the world’s 8th biggest if finalised. Ethiopia is constructing the mega project from its own coffers to be completed in 2017.

(ST)