By: Ahmed ELNAHAS – Montopoli, November 14th 2012.
Some fifty centuries ago Herodotus, after living for two decades in Egypt trying to understand and learn from its Priests the wisdom and secrets which gave the Ancient Egyptian civilisation its fascinating glow; knew for certain and thus pronounced his famous statement: “Egypt is the gift of the Nile”. The mere notion that every Pharaoh, King or Queen, while crossing the twelve doors of judgment towards the ‘Other Eternal Life’, he or she must first of all swear before all the Divinities, and prove to them, that he did not in any way spoiled or disrespected the Nile Waters; is the Chrystal clear evidence that They knew and appreciated that generous divine gift, and thus all have made it a strategic interest to weave interlaced ties with other populations living along the River.
Most of them even conquered these tribes to control the water flow, others made commercial relations; but all aimed to secure the stability of the region, and their heritage show us that they succeeded in accomplishing that aim.
Today news agencies reveal that Ethiopian government confirms its financial capabilities to build Three Dams for Hydro-Energy production! It needs no genius mind to realise that such official announcement consists a serious threat to the National Security of all the Nile Basin governments, especially Egypt.
For almost seven years, I have been trying to bring the Water Problem issue to the Egyptian public in vain.. Because my tens of e-mails, to several official as well as opposition newspapers, to liberal journalists, and to the Ministers of Public Works, Agriculture and Water Resources; found their way to either ministerial waste bins or to the hidden shelves of underground archives.
Now Let me remind you that I referred to Mr. WILLIAM ONYANGO’s report entitled “The Agony of Lake Victoria” and to Mr. LETA SIASA’s article both published back in January 2005 on The Sunday Standard Kenyan daily newspaper, and also posted by “Kenya Democracy Project”.
Both have addressed the issue that Lake Victoria suffocates “…under a dense mat of tangled water hyacinth, experts are still desperately seeking an answer. But no easy solution is in sight as further scandals have surfaced over the award of contracts for clearance of the noxious weed and the use of chemicals to kill the fish in the lake”. And in that regard Mr. Onyango while pointing out the corruption in awarding the bid says: “Though it was said that preference would be given to a local firm, the contract was finally awarded to Oceania Int’l, an Israeli firm. This immediately brought a storm of protest”.
For over five decades Egypt abdicated its leading role over the African continent (due to the arrogant absence of a strategic national security vision, and because our intelligence agencies were more occupied to build up their private fortunes rather than do what they were supposed to do: supplying information and building solid bridges of commercial and cultural relations), we must now abide by, and submit to, the notably huge volume of Israeli commercial, industrial, and belligerent ties with most of the African nations; giving very privileged considerations to the “Nile Basin” governments (much earlier than the Camp David Peace treaties with Egypt).
Having Israel in control of Lake Victoria is one thing, but its technical assistance offered to successive Ethiopian Governments in the Energy field since ages now have led to the THREE DAMS threat, is definitely a different matter.. A matter of escalating tensions in the region over water supplies that could become a prelude to serious conflicts to devastate the entire Nile Basin area. And moreover now with Sudan divided, Israel along with American and European financial institutes, all hungry for the South Sudan petrol, will convince the new born state to sign some generous low interest long term loans to realise some “urgent infra-structure giant projects to modernise the country and guarantee the welfare and self sufficiency of its population”!!
Gigantic optimistic futuristic projects in the fields of Transportation (airports and super highways), Education (private owned universities and schools), Agriculture (use of GMO seeds and chemical fertilisers and pesticides), and of course ENERGY.. Meaning Nuclear Reactors and DAMS!
So, if the Ethiopian declaration would be considered a threat to the Egyptian National Security, the South Sudan projects are indisputably a “Clear and Eminent Danger” not only to the National Security of the country, but more to the vital needs of the Egyptian population.
From Lake Victoria down to the Mediterranean shores, we have ten nations with a population over 230million human being, embracing hundreds of millions of square kilometres of fertile land, and breeding hundreds of millions of heads of wild and domestic fauna.. And all need water. But all are poor enough and ignorant enough to easily start several chaotic bloody wars over it.. Wars armed and financed by the Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
That what Egypt should deal with on the Regional Level while on the national level, we find in 2009 MENA news agency citing a recent report from the cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center, which argued the country would need 86.2 billion cubic meters of water in 2017, but resources are expected to be at only 71.4 billion cubic meters. In that regard Mr. Joseph Mayton argues on the Guardian that “…with a burgeoning population, Egypt’s water crisis does not have the time to wait until 2017 before these issues hit hard, experts say. Already, water shortages have been hitting a number of areas across the nation, especially in the underprivileged neighborhoods that line the well-developed super-complexes of housing for the wealthy”.
In that same article the author says that “..much of the concerns of experts is climate change, which will affect the water levels of both the Nile and the Mediterranean. In 2008 Mr. George Maged, then Minister of Environment, told a parliamentary committee: “Many of the towns and urban areas in the north of the Delta will suffer from the rise in the level of the Mediterranean with effect from 2020 and about 15 percent of Delta land is under threat from the rising sea level and the seepage into the ground water”. And he highlighted that “joint studies by his ministry and the United Nations have assessed the situation to be urgent”.
Water analysts tend to disagree with Maged’s argument that, saying that more in depth research is needed before claims of pending doom can be made. The Nile Delta region is home to approximately half of Egypt’s 80 million people. The UN’s Environment Program says that a rise in only 0.5 meters (20 inches) would displace at least 4 million people and damage 1,800 square kilometers (700 square miles). It gets worse still with a one-meter (39 inches) rise, which would displace at least 6 million people and damage more than double the farmland.
Mr. Mayton ends his report saying: “With water shortages and Biblical climate change on the horizon, Egypt must act soon in order to create new water policy that will help solve these growing problems. The question is, will the government move?”!!
The question is still unanswered.. Not a single official announcement has been released in that regard from the Prime Minister, from any Minister, or a Spokesman, nor a reporter, neither any politician or deputy.. I fear that Egypt may soon find itself drawn into that blood sucking ‘Dog Fight’ if Innovative Diplomacy and swift measures of Political Governance doesn’t make a move.. In the right direction this time I would say.
Pass On The Word.
* The term dogfight has been used for centuries to describe a melee; a fierce battle between two or more opponents. However dog fight, is a form of aerial combat between fighter aircraft; in particular, combat of maneuver at short range, where each side is aware of the others presence. Modern terminology for air-to-air combat is Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM), which refers to tactical situations requiring the use of individual basic fighter maneuvering (BFM) to attack or evade one or more opponents.
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