Dam of Ethiopia's great rebirth: why Egypt and Sudan await it in horror

The dam of the great rebirth of Ethiopia - this is the name of the grandiose facility being built on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. But if for Ethiopia, the reservoir under construction and hydropower plants are identified with a great revival, then for the Sudan and Egypt, located downstream, a grand construction can turn into a great decline, because the Nile water is the most valuable thing in this arid region.

But to fill the reservoir, as is known, significant volumes of water will be required, which will be withdrawn from the Blue Nile within a few years. This is precisely the reason for the discontent of the Ethiopian and Egyptian neighbors. Downstream Sudan and Egypt will be deprived of a significant amount of water, because the total volume of the planned reservoir is 74-79 cubic meters. km

Oddly enough, but the Nile, as in the days of Antiquity, still plays a leading role in the lives of people who live in northeast Africa. Almost the entire population of Egypt, South Sudan and Sudan is concentrated in the fertile valley of the Nile and its tributaries. In this regard, the countries through which the Nile flows, have repeatedly made attempts to resolve the issue of regulating precious runoff. But everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance.

The fact is that this region of Africa was recently colonized by Great Britain. And the British administration, leaving the territory of Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda, left a lot of insoluble contradictions regarding, in particular, the distribution of the river flow of the Nile and its tributaries. One of the documents of the British era secures the right of Egypt to veto any projects carried out in the upper Nile, as Egypt may be at a disadvantage, and according to another agreement, Sudan and Egypt have the right to dispose of almost all of the flow of the Nile (up to 90%). But Ethiopia does not agree with this state of affairs and quite rightly defends its rights to a part of the Blue Nile water runoff - the largest right tributary of the Nile.

In 2011, it was planned to sign an agreement between all countries through whose territory the Nile flows, which would regulate the distribution of flow. But the agreement was not signed for a number of reasons, and soon Ethiopia began to implement a grandiose project.