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The triangle of dams in the Middle East over the past decade has been a tool to increase tension between countries, amid warnings that the situation is escalating into military clashes.
Water is considered to be one of the most important natural resources affecting the lives of peoples, especially those whom nature has endowed with a dry or desert climate.
Recently, the consequences of Ethiopia’s construction of the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile have increased, with downstream countries Sudan and Egypt considering a threat to their water security.
For thousands of years, the Nile has formed the lifeline of the two countries and played an important role in the distribution of the population and civilizations were built on its banks, which prompted the most famous Greek historian ” Herodotus “in the 5th century BC. his famous phrase “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.
Cairo and Khartoum stress the need to reach an agreement that prevents their share of river water from being affected, which amounts to 55.5 billion cubic meters and 18.5 billion cubic meters respectively.
Ethiopia started building the dam in 2010 and says it will help it grow, provide hydropower and overcome the country’s energy shortage.
Since then, negotiations between Ethiopia and the two downstream countries have not produced satisfactory results for the parties to the conflict.
A six-party meeting between foreign ministers and irrigation ministers in Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on January 10 failed to find an acceptable formula to continue negotiations.
Subsequently, Addis Ababa announced through Minister Reha Selchi Bakli that the process of building the dam is proceeding rapidly and that it is expected to store 13.5 billion cubic meters of water during the next rainy season, confirming the completion of construction of more than 78% of the dam.
Ethiopia confirms that the second filling process of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will begin next July.
While Sudan considered that the boredom of the dam on that date unilaterally constituted a “direct threat to Sudanese national security”, calling for a broadening of the negotiations between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on the dam of the Renaissance, to include the African Union, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
Tensions have grown recently between Addis Ababa and Khartoum, including against a backdrop of border tensions, which have turned into military clashes that have left many dead, and experts say these tensions are not isolated from the crisis. Ethiopian dam.
For his part, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed his country’s rejection of “any action or measure infringing Egypt’s rights on the waters of the Nile”.
Al-Sisi affirms: “The inevitability of crystallizing a binding and comprehensive legal agreement between all parties concerned, responding to Egyptian concerns, in particular those related to the rules for filling and operating the dam.
And between the failure of the negotiations, and Ethiopia’s insistence not to heed the Egyptian and Sudanese warnings, the door remains open to the conflagration of the situation and the slide of the region towards unimaginable consequences, in particular with the possibility of the patience of Egypt and Sudan. run out, warns observers.
And former US President Donald Trump warned last October that Egypt could blow up the Ethiopian dam
“This is a very dangerous situation, because Egypt will not be able to live this way,” Trump said in a telephone conversation with the Prime Ministers of Sudan and Israel.
He added: “They will eventually blow up the dam. They have said it and are saying it loud and clear: they are going to blow up this dam… and they have to do something.
Turkish dams
However, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, despite its extensive media coverage, is not alone in threatening water security in Arab countries.
Turkey is building dozens of dams on the Tigris and Euphrates, in an approach which, according to observers, is part of the confrontation with its opponents in Syria (the Syrian Kurds) and Iraq.
The Turkish side considers the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to be internal national rivers and not international as described in international law.
Ankara considers that the internationalization of the Tigris and Euphrates takes place in the event that the river is shared between Turkey’s borders with Iraq, that is, it constitutes a dividing line between the borders of the two countries, which does not apply to reality in terms of the borders between them, and therefore Turkey has the right to build dams, as required by its national interests.
On the Euphrates, two new dams are being built near the Turkish-Syrian border, the “Bireh Chak” dam and the “Karkamish” dam, in addition to other dams built on the course of the river, including “Ataturk “And” Kéban “.
Recently, residents of northeastern Syria have seen a marked drop in the water level of the Euphrates River, which originates in Turkey and irrigates all of northern Syria and then Iraq.
An agreement signed between Syria and Turkey in 1987 stipulated that the Turkish side pledged to provide an annual flow of more than 500 cubic meters per second at the Turkish-Syrian border. control of the northeast region.
The Turkish dams were distributed by 14 dams on the Euphrates, notably the Ataturk dam, and 8 dams on the Tigris, notably the Ilisu dam, as part of the Southeast Anatolia project, which aims to generate hydropower, flood control and water storage.
Recently, Turkey announced the completion of works on the Ilisu Dam, about 50 km from the Iraqi border, while it is estimated that it will deprive Iraq of nearly 50% of its water share. .
Iran follows in Turkey’s footsteps
And Turkey is not the only one accused by the Iraqis of threatening their water security, as Iran pursues similar accusations.
The Iraqis say Iran has in recent years started building dams in the upper rivers that flow into Iraq, especially the Lower Zab and Diyala rivers.
According to official information from the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, the number of tributaries of the Tigris that originate from Iran, whether seasonal or permanent, is 30 and feeds the river with an amount of 12% of its imports of ‘water.
Baghdad says Iran has diverted the courses of most of these rivers in its territory and built several dams on them, including 5 dams on the Karun River.
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