The Role Of Ethiopia’s Water Diplomacy To Promote Relationship Between Ethiopia,Sudan And Egypt

Ethiopia Despite a series of temporary international agreements,Sudan and Egypt are still at odds about who gets to control the waters of the Nile River basin.Officials in Cairo are adamant that Egypt be granted its historic rights to two-thirds of the river’s flow,in contrast to their counterparts in Addis Ababa,who desire an equal distribution of water among all riparian nations.The fact that Sudan switched its allegiance from Egypt to Ethiopia has made the situation tenser,and the persistent involvement of South Sudan,Kenya,Uganda,and Eritrea raises the possibility that on-going crises could escalate into military confrontations.Examining the successes and difficulties of water diplomacy in Ethiopia,Sudan,and Egypt’s connections with Nile water is the study’s main goal.The researcher employed a completely qualitative approach to do this.The majority of the data came from secondary sources,and the researcher employed narrative and discursive data analysis as qualitative methodologies.The Nile issue dominated the bilateral relations between Ethiopia,Sudan,and Egypt.For instance,a major development in EthiopianEgyptian ties was marked when Egypt dispatched the first public diplomacy mission to Ethiopia in April 2011 and the Ethiopian public diplomacy trip to Egypt in December 2014.Based on the data,the study identified: the legacy of colonialism and attitudes towards the Nile River;lack of understanding of water diplomacy;financial and time constraints;and restrictions on professionals in public diplomacy and literature and Unilateral involvement of the West and the Middle East are the main challenges in conducting water diplomacy.It was viewed as a positive step forward for the hostile water diplomacy between Ethiopia and Egypt to end because the US was involved in the GERD negotiations.But,the then president of America Donald Trump peace plan deal ultimately complicates the two countries’ water diplomacy.Water war tension increased because of Trump’s speech which is urging Egypt to "bomb up" Ethiopia’s dam.In view of this,a method for resolving suspicions and conflicts;develop soft power approach,development of media;Resolving disputes over water resources and promoting security in Nile riparian countries and the power of cooperation to forge joint agreements or treaties,economic and cultural integration between the study countries,are among the main avenues that help improve water diplomacy between Ethiopia,Sudan and Egypt.In conclusion,it is a promising beginning that is cause for optimism.Water diplomacy primarily addresses these problems in the relationships between the three nations,which may encourage mutually respectful usage of the Nile’s water.Following this finding,the study recommends that Ethiopia,Sudan,and Egypt work hard to foster trust for shared use of Nile water by strengthening their relationships with one another,clarifying the roles,objectives,and dimensions of water diplomacy with their own legal status,consolidating professionals literature and budgets,and coordinating departments in their Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources.Ethiopia is one of the low income countries in the world,but Efforts were made to revitalize the economy and one of the approaches was to build dams using the Nile and its tributaries.Although we can understand building the Nile to increase Ethiopia’s economic development,however,the construction of the dams will require higher water diplomacy to get approval from other member countries of the basin.Cooperation in the Nile Basin is not an option.It is essential that the riparian nations become a region of shared wealth,peace,political stability,and economic integration.However,Egypt and Sudan expressed their vehement opposition to the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and attacked the Ethiopian choice in 2011,following Ethiopia’s announcement.Both nations asserted that the GERD will severely lower the amount of hydropower generated by the AHD and convert a sizeable chunk of its irrigated areas to desert,as well as drastically reduce the quantity of hydropower produced by the GERD.In order to demonstrate Ethiopia’s role in water diplomacy and to highlight and promote the importance of mutual benefit diplomacy in general,the study attempts to answer an important research question: What is the Role of Ethiopia’s Water Diplomacy to Promote Relationship between Ethiopia Sudan and Egypt?In attempting to answer these questions,the study’s findings show that the influence of the West and the Middle East on the Nile,the legacy of colonialism,Egyptian water policies,limitations on finance,and the lack of effective international laws and institutions biggest challenges were Ethiopia’s water diplomacy.The study is divided into five chapters in general: The first chapter includes an introduction that explains the overriding role of water diplomacy in resolving water resource disputes and the importance of conducting this study;the methods used to compile the study information,which is the secondary source of the data collection system.This chapter also explains how this topic has been discussed in several literatures by different authors,who explained the mechanisms used by the governments of Ethiopia,Sudan and Egypt to promote and develop diplomatic relations and the impact of water resource agreements and impacts of multiple agreements.Chapter two explains the practice of water diplomacy in Ethiopia.In this chapter,the study shows that the Nile River as a tool for developing Ethiopia’s water diplomacy,the importance of the Nile Conference in 2002 in promoting river basinwide cooperation,the role of the Cooperation Framework Agreement(CFA)in developing diplomatic relations and the equitable use of water resources.This chapter also includes the role of the media in Ethiopia’s water diplomacy in such a way that the media will sanitize all water diplomacy and expose unjust actions by member countries.Ethiopia has achieved significant diplomatic successes in clearly informing many nations about the Nile and the Renaissance Dam through broadcast media or television programs in English,Arabic and French in addition to the government newspapers.This chapter also explains the importance of promoting regional security development cooperation that Ethiopia has played its role in institution building and the government has taken a series of measures to maintain peace and security,promote economic progress and the Counteracting dissatisfaction and population growth requires better governance.Building an alliance across the Nile to change Ethiopia’s national image is also another part of this chapter.Chapter three details the key achievements of Ethiopia’s water diplomacy in promoting relations between Ethiopia,Sudan and Egypt.This chapter intensified the role of peaceful cooperation to understand each other.Ethiopian-Egyptian public diplomacy on Nile water,strengthening its ties with Egypt on matters related to exploitation of the Nile Basin’s resources has been one of the positive achievements Ethiopia has made in the field of water diplomacy in recent years.Improving cultural exchanges is another of Ethiopia’s achievements,which is discussed in this chapter.Public diplomacy can strengthen the relations between two peoples by involving all relevant parties with religion culture and language that nobody can not undermine and can bring the conflicting issues to stability.Therefore,the interpersonal relationship plays a crucial role not only in promoting mutual understanding,but also in forming a more positive attitude towards strangers towards others.The study also points out that investment in agriculture farm has evolved a highly strategic factor,particularly given the growing demand for Ethiopia,and the development of trade ties between Ethiopia,Sudan and Egypt has played a crucial role in the development of water diplomacy.Sudan and Ethiopia are the two main COMESA members,and that trade between them has grown dramatically in recent years.A bilateral trade agreement between Ethiopia and Sudan was also reached in2002;it aims to promote free trade by lowering trade obstacles and fostering healthy competition.This study has further explained that power generation is a key to strengthening the fraternal relationship between Ethiopia,Sudan and Egypt.Sudan,Egypt,and Ethiopia are now at odds over the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.Chapter four presents the challenges of Ethiopia’s water diplomacy in furthering relations between Ethiopia,Sudan and Egypt.The first challenge is the influence of the West and Middle East across the Nile.For years,the hegemony of Egypt and Sudan on the River Nile was helped by Russia,United Arab Emirates and USA.Egypt’s water policy on the Nile was another challenge to Ethiopia’s water diplomacy.Ethiopia’s unequivocal refusal to attend the meeting can be interpreted as a deliberate attempt to distance itself from Cairo in order to limit Ethiopia’s ability to voice its opinion on the Nile problem.According to current Egyptian stance,the water allotted of 55.5 billion cubic meters laid down in the 1959 River Nile Waters cooperation is non-negotiable,although future water development plans are open to negotiation with all upstream riparian states.The study also said that financial and time constraints are another obstacle to Ethiopia’s water diplomacy.In addition,the lack of effective international laws and institutions for distributing equitable use of water resources has also been the major challenges in the Nile riparian countries.Chapter five also outlines some recommendations and actions to be taken by Ethiopia,Sudan and Egypt to strengthen and further develop public diplomatic relations in the future.