Posted on 07/15/2020 5:54:16 AM PDT by C19fan
Rising 500ft out of the grasslands of eastern Ethiopia and spanning 6,000ft across the Blue Nile river, is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Africa's largest hydroelectric plant, which is pushing the region close to war. It is a £3billion bet upon which Ethiopia has banked all its hopes for the future, but which could spell catastrophe for its downstream neighbour, Egypt, which relies on the river for 90 per cent of its fresh water. Having strong-armed citizens, business and banks into investing in the project - which has also been supported by China - Ethiopia needs results. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has threatened to start filling the lake behind the dam this month, come what may. Egypt says that would be an 'existential threat', and it may resort to force to stop it.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“The filling of the reservoir is scheduled to begin in 7 July 2020.[11][1] Once completed, the reservoir could take anywhere between 5 and 15 years to fill with water”
“Forget it, Jake!”
It is about 1,000 miles from Egypt’s southern border with Sudan to the dam. Does the Egyptian air force have the infrastructure to hit it? Perhaps Sudan will allow Egypt to use their air bases to hit the dam.
Control the water, control the people...
Sounds like a god dam
They’ll use the army.
WE damed the Colorado.
While China is our enemy, I'm not sure I can cheer on the potential for the Three Gorges damn to fail, as there are nearly 40 million people in its downstream path.
I just don't expect it to withstand the current rains.
I think it was Alvin Toffler who predicted last century that the 21t century would feature Islamic Jihads and wars fought over water. The Nile, the Tigress and the Jordan were all candidates. Before anyone gets on their high horse, look at the water problems in our own West. California regularly takes water from others and the Rio Grande is nothing but a few muddy puddles when it reaches the Mexican border.
With the water from the Nile the rest of its tributary countries have an opportunity to develop. But Egypt will suffer in equal measure to their development. The Turks said they would never use water as a weapon...yeah, sure.
One bright spot in this is Israeli technology for desalinating sea water. That and the advent of cheap modular reactors might prevent a few wars, but that is a long, long way off. A lot of people will die before they either accept Israeli help or the world allows more reactors, regardless of how safe they can be made.
We have our mighty rivers, including the mighty Mississippi River. I am from a state that has its own mighty river, called the Connecticut.
“We have our mighty rivers, including the mighty Mississippi River.”
The US has been uniquely blessed by geography. We have full control over our water. Rivers in the rest of the world go through mostly go through multiple countries, all of whom need the water.
I have absolutely no problem with dead Communists anywhere.
rival - late 16th century: from Latin rivalis, originally in the sense ‘person using the same stream as another’, from rivus ‘stream’.
“It is about 1,000 miles from Egypt’s southern border with Sudan to the dam. Does the Egyptian air force have the infrastructure to hit it? Perhaps Sudan will allow Egypt to use their air bases to hit the dam.”
I suspect that Israel will be willing to give Egypt a hand, if asked.
Africans will regret ever allowing the Chinese to infest their continent — if they don’t already.
Ethiopia about to dam Egypt. A project that would be incredibly dramatic for history and the region. The Nile is huge, and part of the fabric of the region. There will be a war over the Nile river.
Oh GREAT! Another dam built by the reds.
The one they built in China aint doing so great now.
They will probably have to anyway. Because losing the Nile would destroy Egypt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.