Is Egypt Securing Diplomatic Success over Ethiopia?
The Blue Nile accounts for 85 percent of the Nile's water flow. It joins the White Nile, whose headwaters lie in the East African highlands of Burundi. Ethiopians consider the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the other dams the government of Ethiopia plans to build a symbol of national pride as they will produce electricity that will transform the economic prospects not only for their country but for much of seriously under-developed East Africa. In talks last January between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, negotiations hit a dead-end, with MENA reporting that Ethiopia refused to discuss the terms of "confidence-building measures," which Egyptian officials say must be changed in order to avoid reduction of Egypt's Nile river water share. Egypt, with its 84 million people totally dependent on the Nile for water, cites British colonial agreements in 1929 and 1959 that guarantee it the lion's share of the water and a veto over upstream dam construct