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It
is the Water, Stupid!
G.
E. Gorfu
For
hundreds of years Egypt’s desire, even before its policy was articulated
by Muzinger Pasha(1) the
Swiss mercenary, has been: ‘to occupy and Islamize Ethiopia, or that
failing, to keep it in perpetual poverty and misery….’*
This is done to prevent Ethiopia develop its rivers by irrigation, and
thereby reducing the flow of the Nile reaching Egypt.
Through the ages
this policy has been successfully implemented in various ways and means,
and we even saw in our own lifetime how Ethiopia suffered drought,
secessionist wars, poverty, and famine, all engineered directly or
indirectly, by Cairo. Throughout all that time
Egypt
has been developing and prospering at the expense of
Ethiopia
.
Recently a flurry
of letter writing campaigns were carried out by some European nations
(France, Italy, et. al.), expressing a totally unfounded ‘environmental
concern’ with the evil intention of blocking loans earmarked for the
Gibe Gilgel III Dam. Behind these letter writing campaigns, we are sure,
is our eternal enemy,
Egypt
!
Egypt
lives in mortal fear of
Ethiopia
building dams and drying up the
Nile
, a fear which is totally unfounded.
The amount in question,
$400 million US, a small fry in the scheme of such projects, is for a loan
negotiated with the
US
financial giant, JP Morgan Chase. Unlike coal, diesel, or nuclear power,
hydro-electric plants are among the cleanest and most environmentally
friendly. So, where is the
beef? What concerns could they be expressing? Could it be the
environmental concerns of
Egypt
? What a shameful travesty of justice, truth and fairness!
With the letter writing
strategy
Cairo
is pursuing its long standing policy ‘…of keeping
Ethiopia
in perpetual poverty and misery…’
So, I personally contacted representatives of JP Morgan Chase and
told them I would cut my Chase Credit Card in half and close my account,
should
Ethiopia
be denied the loan. Every concerned Ethiopian should also do the same, and
I would be happy to share the address and other relevant information.
What I am interested in
here, however, is to ask my fellow Ethiopian Moslem brothers and sisters
what they think of this long standing policy of
Egypt
against our mother land. Is
there any justification for it? Has
Ethiopia
ever wronged or harmed
Egypt
in any way that our country should forever be hampered in its development,
and impoverished?
 Famine
and poverty are not selective. Both Moslems and Christians, men and women,
young and old, starve to death in a famine. So, can anyone make sense of a
policy that states: “
Egypt
should occupy and Islamize
Ethiopia
or…”? Does
Egypt
think Ethiopian Moslems are either stupid, or such religious zealots that
they would sit and watch quietly as our rivers flow down the Nile for
Egypt
’s prosperity, while their families starve? Can our Moslem brothers and
sisters speak up on this policy?
G.
E. Gorfu
Notes
1. Muzinger
Pasha, working for Kediv Ismael of
Egypt
and for the Ottoman Turks, was appointed governor of Southern Sudan, and
tried to destabilize
Ethiopia
in various ways in the Nineteenth Century.
*
The
Nile
: Historical, Legal and Developmental Perspectives
by Gebre Tsadik Degefu
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