Ethiopia PM to arrive in Egypt on Monday after one-month delay

[Deeq A.]

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will arrive in Egypt on Monday evening in a state visit which will go on until Wednesday, informed sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Friday.

Desalegn’s visit comes in the framework of the joint Egyptian-Ethiopian committee which was due to convene in mid-December but was postponed to January.

The sources said that a high level delegation will accompany Desalegn during his visit which will include Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu and Ethiopia’s ambassador to Cairo Taye Atske-Selassie Amde.

Desalegn is expected to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the Ittihadeya presidential palace.

The sources added that the program of the visit is currently being arranged, and Desalegn is expected to deliver a speech at the House of Representatives on the second day of the visit, but this has not been determined yet.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister is scheduled to discuss with Sisi the latest developments in the he Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) file and put forth the Ethiopian response to Egypt’s proposal for the participation of the World Bank as a technical partner in the tripartite technical committee on GERD.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with the Ethiopian Prime Minister in the end of December during his visit to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to follow up on bilateral relations between the two countries, prepare for the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s visit to Egypt and discuss the course of the GERD negotiations.

 

[Old_Observer]

Some Egyptian parliament members have done everything they can to get this visit cancelled. Reason:

The Ethiopian prime minister will convince parliament that the dam will not harm them, there fore should not be given platform. That is how weak the argument of some Egyptians is against the dam.

 

"shortly after the visit was announced, MP Abdel Hamid Kamal and another 18 MPs submitted a memorandum to Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal rejecting the visit, arguing that Addis Ababa will garner points from the visit in case it plans to go to international courts. "

https://dailynewsegypt.com/2017/12/20/desalegn-visit-raises-controversy-ethiopias-intentions-gerd/

[Holac]

OO, is it true that Ethiopian government is exaggerating GERD Dam's output power?

 

A number of experts believe the dam is not going to produce as much power as is claimed, and that the dam should be smaller in size for efficiency and cost. Asfaw Beyene, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at San Diego State University (California) says the dam is 300% over-sized. “More than half of the turbines will be rarely used,” he says. “GERD’s available power output, based on the average of river flow throughout the year and the dam height, is about 2,000 megawatts, not 6,000. There is little doubt that the system has been designed for a peak flow rate that only happens during the 2-3 months of the rainy season. Targeting near peak or peak flow rate makes no economic sense.” Beyene notes that that the issue is so highly politicized that “it seems to suppress legitimate engineering inputs and environmental discussions.” He suggests that the concerned authorities should make the project transparent, and resize the hydroelectric power output by reducing the number of turbines.

 

https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-fact-sheet-8213

 

 

[Old_Observer]

2 minutes ago, Holac said:

OO, is it true that Ethiopian government is exaggerating GERD Dam's output power?

 

A number of experts believe the dam is not going to produce as much power as is claimed, and that the dam should be smaller in size for efficiency and cost. Asfaw Beyene, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at San Diego State University (California) says the dam is 300% over-sized. “More than half of the turbines will be rarely used,” he says. “GERD’s available power output, based on the average of river flow throughout the year and the dam height, is about 2,000 megawatts, not 6,000. There is little doubt that the system has been designed for a peak flow rate that only happens during the 2-3 months of the rainy season. Targeting near peak or peak flow rate makes no economic sense.” Beyene notes that that the issue is so highly politicized that “it seems to suppress legitimate engineering inputs and environmental discussions.” He suggests that the concerned authorities should make the project transparent, and resize the hydroelectric power output by reducing the number of turbines.

 

https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-fact-sheet-8213

 

 

 

The man is not writing/speaking as an engineer, but an opposition politician, just using the title engineer for fake credibility. He was not happy that after hundreds of years, it has to take the Tigray leadership to build it. I do not have the link now, but he is more of a politician than an engineer in this issue.

 

The best witness in this case is Sudan. Sudan is between Ethiopia and Egypt. Sudan analysis and or statements, I find more credible than anyone else. Sudan has not only hydrologic experts, but also interest.

 

 

[maakhiri1]

From few photos I seen, and include Satelite, the damm looks really big, the cliam that it will not have an effect on  the follow of water through the NILE, will be tested once fully operation.

 

 

[Old_Observer]

The dam is big will hold more than 70 billion meter cube, but this has nothing to do with how much water flows out of Ethiopia. The dam is big for the simple reason that all turbines need to work year round, since the flow of the river during rainy season and dry season has big difference.

 

What the Egyptians are really concerned, but hiding it, never wanted it discussed is the water speed will be slower, thus more evaporation in Sudan. As it is now without the dam 10 billion cubic meters a year evaporates.

Since its the Ethiopian nile that gives the whole nile flow speed, falling from 2km altitude, and the white nile moves very slow, the Sudanese have been proposing to Egyptians from 40 years back to build channel at least in some areas if not all the way and save the evaporation.

The Egyptians found it cheaper to paralyze Sudan and Ethiopia with civil wars and other means not to use the river, rather than build a tunnel cheaply to prevent evaporation and regulate the flooding which is big problem even for Egypt.

 

And since Every dog has his day, it does not look like the Egyptians can use the old ways. They cannot even go under British Empire protection anymore. Sudan and Ethiopia relative to Egypt are not what they used to be. Now Egypt is itself in termoil and has to face the music they played for centuries. The music does not sound good anymore for their ears.

 

 

[maakhiri1]

The fate of  Alexander Litvinenko could be waiting for him

[Old_Observer]

Or the fate of Meles Zenawi

 

But that is something the Ethiopians are prepared to pay. Egypt has only two options that are both almost impossible at this time:

1. Occupy Ethiopia

2. Forget Colonial treaty and negotiate as independent country invest in Ethiopia, Respect the Sudanese show regret for past cruelty done on Sudan to keep them down

[maakhiri1]

I thought Meles Zenawi case was rumour, that he has been poisoned? after becoming more pro China

[galbeedi]

Egypt does need to occupy Ethiopia. 

 

Eritrea had been under sanctions for 15  years, and this Egyptian alliance will be their card to get out of the crippling sanctions. The sanctions against Sudan was lifted through the  help of Saudi Arabia after the former deployed troops to Yemen.

 

The planes will fly from an Eritrean air bases located couple of hundred miles from the Dam  and will fly back to their base. Ethiopia have to move 100,000 soldiers or more to invade Eritrea and move all their military resources to the mountainous border.

 

I can not wait to see how this geopolitical game ends. It will change the whole region.

 

[Old_Observer]

A decade of no peace no war between Ethiopia and Eritrea has changed the facts on the ground that you are assuming.

 

A small border closure from Sudan the next day shook Eritrea. Eritrea now has to think of the well being of Ethiopia more than anything else as unplatable as it may sound. If what you are thinking happens Eritrea will be the first to go, both by Sudan and Ethiopia. The Eritreans know this and are acting accordingly regardless what you see in the internet.

 

Egypt is also incapable of doing half of what you think they can do. Have you ever considered the Saudis want drinking water from Ethiopia same as Djibouti has done?

Israel is offering its services to help Ethiopia and Egypt negotiate. To pre-empt this the Egyptians are calling for World Bank and not Israel.

The Sudanese and Ethiopians are saying, just the 3 of us, no body else.

 

Its more complicated and it could not have happened at worst time for Egypt and Eritrea.