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1 1 (July 27, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdbbz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Conqrcissioa Research Service The Nile Dam Dispute: Issues for Congress July 27, 2020 Overview A long-running dispute between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan over the waters of the Nile flared in 2020, as Ethiopia moves toward completion of Africa's largest hydroelectric power project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The domestic stakes are high for both Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who seeks to guide Ethiopia through a fragile political transition, and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, who seeks to preserve Egypt's share of the Nile amidst population growth, pollution, and rising sea levels. Efforts to resolve the conflict, including by the United States, have yet to result in a final agreement. Alongside the potential for the dispute to escalate, failure to reach an accord could set a negative precedent for transboundary water cooperation at a time of growing global concern over climate change, demographic growth, and resource scarcity. Background For Ethiopia, where almost 70% the rural population lacks access to electricity, the GERD would significantly expand domestic power capacity and allow the country to sell excess electricity to its neighbors. When construction began on the $4 billion project in 2011, then-Prime Minister Meles Zenawi pledged that Ethiopia would finance the project itself, funding it through government bonds, donations, taxes, and a portion of civil servants' salaries. He envisioned the 6,000-megawatt GERD as powering Ethiopia's development and helping to lift its population out of poverty. The project has been a source of national pride for Ethiopians, and a rallying point amidst recent domestic troubles. For Egypt, which relies on the Nile for domestic hydropower, agriculture, and most of its water needs, the prospect of upstream countries controlling the river's flow has become an existential issue. Egypt argues that the dam, once filled, will limit the flow to Egypt to below its traditional share. For nearly a century, Egypt has been the main beneficiary of international agreements apportioning shares of the Nile's waters. The upstream countries were not parties to those agreements, made while most of them were still under colonial rule. The most recent treaty, the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement between Egypt and Sudan, divided the river's entire average annual flow between the two countries. Roughly 85% of the water flowing into Egypt comes from the Nile's main tributary, the Blue Nile, which originates in Ethiopia and merges in Sudan with the White Nile. Ethiopia was not party to the 1959 deal and does not recognize it. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11471 CRS NStGHT Prepai-ed for ferbei-s amnd Comrm ittees of Conqgress ..... .... .... .... .... .... ...-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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