By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

April12, 2011 (ETHIOPIA) – The Ethiopian government has played down reports saying the military in Egypt has ordered its army to “prepare for any eventuality” over the dispute of Nile water.

Ethiopian Foreign affairs minister spokes person, Dina Mufti, however told a local newspaper, the reporter that the latest threats are not different from what they used to be.

“It’s a psychological threat persisting from the early time of Egypt’s former President Anwar Sadat,” Dina said.

Ethiopia last week launched construction of $4.7 billion massive hydropower project in its Nile basin near its border with Sudan. Some political analysts say the move might be a trigger for conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia.

A 1929 colonial-era treaty gives Egypt majority rights to use the Nile’s water. Egypt has been warning against any dams at on the Nile River, despite 80 percent of its water originating in Ethiopia.

Egypt has requested to make own study over the new dam project however Ethiopia has refused saying it won’t negotiate bilaterally but within the Cooperative Frame work Agreement (CFA) which six riparian countries have so far signed seeking an end to the old pact and instead demanded a new agreement for an equitable and reasonable use over the water. Egypt and Sudan have refused to sign the CFA.

Egyptian Minister of Water and Irrigation Hussein al-Atfy said recently that Egypt has requested to see technical and environmental studies conducted for Ethiopia’s Great Millennium Dam, which it intends to build.

“We would ask the international community to intervene if Ethiopia does not reply,” he said. Ethiopia accuses Egypt of being engaged in a continuous campaign to convince international donors to refrain financing Ethiopian projects on the River Nile telling them the risk of new conflict in the region.

Named as the Millennium Dam, the power plant expected to have a capacity to hold 62 billion cubic meters of water.

Ethiopian officials are saying that this big project will also ultimately benefit both Sudan and Egypt itself.

‘‘If we take Sudan, the project serves the country well since it will reduce recurring flood damage by putting some of the water into use. On the other hand, Egypt already has adequate water supply at Aswan Lake. So the reduction to the water reaching these countries is nothing but the amount that was wasted’’ Ambassador Tofik Abdullahi Ahmed said.

Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that his country has no intention to hurt the peoples of Egypt and instead wants win-win solution over the use of the Nile waters.

"We want the Egyptian people to know that we are not their enemy” Zenawi said adding “we want joint cooperation based on mutual interest for the better future of the peoples of the two countries”

Ethiopia considers itself an African powerhouse due to its high hydro power potential. However, experts say only a fraction of this potential has been exploited so far. It has an ambitious plan to spend $12 billion over 25 years on the sector.

(ST)