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Since many people have been asking me. Here is a quick thread re: #GERD. The Anglo-Ethiopian treaty of 1902 was designed to determine the frontier between #Sudan & #Ethiopia and also set the legal basis for unimpeded flow of waters from the Blue Nile to Sudan & #Egypt. 1/11
Treaty was negotiated between Emperor Menelik & British representative. Until today #Ethiopia recognizes its shared border with #Sudan (Art. 1) based on the 1902 Anglo-Ethiopian treaty. But now they intend to violate (Art. 3) by rapidly filling #GERD & impeding water flows. 2/11
This would be a direct violation to int’l law. #Ethiopia can legally build #GERD but it has to guarantee that water flows to #Egypt & #Sudan are not interrupted; hence, the many years of technical negotiations about how fast to fill the dam in accordance to Int’l law. 3/11
#Ethiopia cannot suddenly disregard & violate Article 3 of the Anglo-Ethiopian treaty of 1902 & describe it as a colonial era treaty, while at the same time use the same treaty for legal basis to define its borders with Sudan. 4/11
#Ethiopia cannot cherry pick articles from the Anglo-Ethiopian treaty of 1902 to simply make it fit its current political agenda of wanting to quickly fill #GERD & disregard the legal & humanitarian consequences of interruption of Nile water flows to #Sudan and #Egypt. 5/11
#Egypt & #Sudan support the building of #GERD cause #Ethiopia needs it to generate electricity which is understandable. The water will flow through turbines & generate that needed electricity. Thereafter the water will eventually flow to Sudan & Egypt. So what’s the problem? 6/11
The problem is with #Ethiopia’s desire of quickly fill the dam (3 years) & the massive interruptions it would cause to Nile water flows before the #GERD even becomes operational. #Egypt & #Sudan want a more prolonged schedule. They have been negotiating this for years. 7/11
Studied were conducted, compromises were made by all parties & with the support of the U.S. & World Bank as mediators, an agreement was finally reached. #Egypt signed it in February 2020, but without an explanation #Ethiopia decided last second NOT to sign. 8/11
The negotiations continued even though all technical issues were agreed upon. Suddenly a few days ago #Ethiopia’s Prime Minister @AbiyAhmedAli announced they will start filling the #GERD based on their rapid filling timeline without a final agreement being reached or signed. 9/11
