The final step to free our nation from the manipulation of Egypt!

Miheretab Wolde

Ethiopia is a nation destined for greatness, but troubled by dust and distracted by the ‘dirty game’ of Egypt. The nation that used to be known to fly like an eagle, is now with its clipped wings, forced to live like a chicken. Once, the pride of black people all around the world became a shame of the African continent. The source of great philosophy jammed with a tale of foolishness. A nation with a proud history has now become a field trial of failed political ideologies. The wisdom of our forefathers is being threatened by clan-based pseudo-intellectuals or ‘ethnopreneurs’. A country that was supposed to lead a united Africa became a playground for tribalism and ethnic divisions. Egypt’s spies enjoyed the highest privileged in the country while the national heroes lost their glory. The collective great moral value of its citizens’ shifted to shame and reproach. The spirit of unity and nationalism gave way to ethnic division, shameful greed, and resource grabbing. All in all, Ethiopia hit a rock bottom as a result of a few dusty mindless groups and its archenemy, Egypt.
Now is the right time for the government of Ethiopia to shake off all the dust that became a root cause of conflict. It is impossible to change the current peace and security, social, health, economic and political landscape by the same old model. The great American, Richard Buckminster Fuller once said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” It is time for Ethiopia to introduce a new model that is compatible with its untouched potential and its great destiny. The old way of primordial thinking will never produce a solid and prosperous nation. It is also a must to go ahead of the mutable evil nature of Egypt. It is impossible to meet the demand of this nation with an outmoded political model and a passive state response to Egypt’s aggression. The ruling party has shown a glimmer of hope in understanding the season and in acting promptly. In contrast, some opposition parties, including the former ruling party are ever static. They run political mischief and sabotage in the name of a tribe and some minor social issues. They are facilitators of blood-shedding behind the scenes. They don’t have a vision, knowledge, goodwill, and exemplary social services other than their poison tongue and wicked hands. The Louis L’Amour quote, “the only thing that never changes is that everything changes” will not apply to these political parties and the hydro-hegemony of Egypt. Therefore, it is time for the government of Ethiopia to guard the destiny of this nation by taking appropriate measures on these stumbling blocks. It is also high time for the true Ethiopians to stand in the gap. If the dust at home shakes off, it is easy to defeat the ‘dirty game’ of Egypt.
Egypt’s regular actions toward Ethiopia demonstrate the real meaning of its name. The name of Egypt defined as “a god of chaos, fire, deserts, trickery, storms, envy, manipulator, controller, disorder, and violence.” The recent stormy move of Egypt is the reflection of its behavior. Indeed, in the future too, this country will not stop playing its ‘dirty game’ in Ethiopia. They have a bunch of evil cards. In the past they played with Orthodox religion, engaged in a direct and proxy wars, manipulating internal politics, and creating civil wars through their allies of tribalists and separatists. They also worked hard to block the developmental options of Ethiopia through its international scheming mechanism. They tried to establish a false and unfounded history about ‘Abay’ or the Blue Nile River. They tried to isolate Ethiopia from the Nile basin, Arab, and neighboring countries. They also employed various strategies and propaganda, to influence powerful countries and international financial organizations like the World Bank and the IMF to stand against Ethiopia. They worked hard to make sure that all Ethiopia neighbors to be a member of the Arab League. Egypt used deep poverty and spreading endless conflict in Ethiopia as a weapon of controlling the Heartland or the geography Pivot of the Nile River. All in all, they worked hard to deepen the level of poverty, ignorance, laziness, social unrest, tribalism, religious conflict, and civil war to amplify in the nation to see the collapse of Ethiopia. The recent tricky moves to the UN Security Council were the successive expression of their coercive tendency and manipulative political scenery.
UN Security Council (UNSC) is the primary UN body to ensure international peace and security. Soon after the second world war (1945), the international system prohibited not only the use of force but also the threat of use of force in international relations. The UN charter art. 2 (4) gives a hope for the world who crave a sustainable peace. This is the main reason why after the end of the second world war, it’s hard to see aggression. However, there are still some nations try to use the armed attack. In this case, any State is allowed to invoke the self-defense article on the UN Charter (art. 51). In this condition, the state needs to be sure that these three criteria met: armed attack, ongoing, and inform the Security Council (SC). Thus, if Egypt didn’t satisfy the criteria, why they brought the ‘Abay’ issue to the UN SC? Is this way of informing the SC or is it due to being overconfident in their manipulative skills of the current 15 members? It is presumed, they did it to attain four targets: to spread fear on Ethiopia, to make the case a legitimate concern of the international community as they did with Arab league, to deceive and get at least the vote of nine members so as to make it as SC agenda, or to show their fake claim of ‘peace-seeking desire and the protection of the international peace and security’. All in all, in each and every step they have multiple cards or series of plan b. This can be witnessed in several circumstances, for example, when the USA and World Bank mission as observer ended, they didn’t spend much time to reach almost all the current members of the UNSC.
The Egyptian foreign minister traveled to all the temporary African representatives in UNSC namely Tunisia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa, and Niger. The foreign minister and other government officials did not stop their diplomatic journey even during the Coronavirus pandemic. They traveled to Belgium, France, and Kuwait. The president and the foreign minister of Egypt made tireless calls to Russia, China, Germany, the USA, UK, and Estonia. The Egyptian press was busy in propagating the long-standing and historical relationship they have with Vietnam. Overall, Egypt reached almost all SC members and advocated to get their support.
Under the UNSC council procedure, any agenda or complaint can be dropped or proceed within days or years. In this UN body, scientific report, justification, diplomacy, or reasonable and fact-based report to any accusation doesn’t matter as much. It is all about getting the support of the current and the permanent members in the back doors. This trend apparently convenient for Egypt to play its ‘dirty game’. They dropped 2015 tripartite agreement and tried to get the vote of SC. They made out that they are not going to win if they stuck with science and evidence-based negotiation. They rather preferred to continue what they know better, i.e. manipulating others and making the issue as a threat to international peace and security. However, this playground/UNSC is not as easy as an Arab League where Egypt is the secretary, chairman, referee, and player. Besides, the competitor, Ethiopia never lost to the enemy. Ethiopia has built on well-founded soft power for the last many hundred years. Ethiopia is a friend for all but a destroyer of any enemy that comes into the matter of sovereignty. No power on earth can wrestle with her except God! Italy is a witness to Adwa victory. Egypt itself a witness for its defeat at ‘Gundet’ on November 16, 1876, where the Egyptian forces were completely destroyed by Ethiopian armies. All in all, by hook or by crook the Egyptian attempt in UNSC was failed or it will fail, but they will not stop taking another ‘dirty game’. It is their inherent nature. Ethiopia needs to STAND UP!
Security, in Ethiopia and beyond, is the cornerstone for nation-building. Ethiopia needs to be wise and quick enough to block each and every crack that could be a good opportunity for the enemy. Egypt’s way of creating conflict nowadays might not be different from the past, but the strategies could differ. This is the main reason why Ethiopia needs to reflect, forecast, plan, and implement ahead of the enemy. There is a common conflict breeding ground in the country. These include religion, ethnic politics, regional administration that tolerates separatists, tribal and regional border issues, and bipolar political views. The other security threat will be issues related to the neighboring countries. If Egypt couldn’t get a means to disturb Ethiopia indoors, they will use the neighboring countries as a means to intensify border or other conflicting issues. They will also work destabilizing the neighboring countries to ensure Conflict Spillover in Ethiopia. The favorable countries for this evil plan could be South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Somalia/Somaliland. Ethiopia needs to be a keeper of these countries. The undercover influence of Egypt must stop in these countries. Ethiopia needs to free these countries from the evil influence of Egypt. Ethiopia must work with South Sudan and other neighboring countries to stop the deceiving acts of Egypt, which coverup in the name of Dam construction and military support. If these countries are not free from the negative influence of Egypt, they will continue as a threat to the peace and security of Ethiopia and the broader East Africa region. Thus Ethiopia needs to be vigilant until there is a stable government in Sudan and a capable leader in South Sudan. It is impossible to fill the gap of leadership in East Africa countries through idiotic, mercenary, narrow-minded, egoistic, ignorant, and unlearned individuals. Ethiopia needs to stop advocating the lifting of the embargo until the people of these countries free from these egocentric and treacherous leaders.
Technology, in the near future, will be an opportunity as well as a threat to Ethiopia. If Ethiopia does not master the technology in 21century, technology will master on the internal issues of the country. It is reported that there are multiple high-tech crimes /cybercrime attempts took place in the last few years. If Ethiopia needs to make its development safe and secure, mastering technology is a must. If not the historical and secretive enemies might use it as a weapon to weaken and slow down the fast development endeavor. In the coming few years, the country needs to work to advance dam engineering and technology and farming technology. There is also a need to advance in military technology, artificial intelligence, geotargeting, automation, nuclear science and technology, spy satellites, and other intelligence technologies. It is also highly recommended to advance in cybersecurity, space technology, and other advancements in technological evolution.
Arab League (AL) is one of the oldest regional organizations in the world. When one assesses the function of the organization, it’s apparent that it is an undercover Department of Egyptian foreign ministry. In its long history, the organization leads almost by the Egyptian secretaries-general apart from a single occasion. 7 out of 8 secretaries-general until now are Egyptians and the majority of them are the former foreign minister of Egypt. Is this organization a catalyst or a threat to peace and security? Egypt’s recent actions on Libya and Ethiopia proved that they are a threat to international peace and security. The UN and international community tried to assist the legitimate government in Libya while Egypt and its extension, the Arab League is tired to assist the warlord Haftar that works hard to ensure the birth of second Syria. When Egypt planned to stop the peaceful negotiation with Ethiopia, AL became an echo for Egypt’s coercive control rhetoric. It is time for Ethiopia and other non-AL nations like Turkey to be stepped up and resist the evil work of Egypt. Egypt used AL as a tool to propagate its wicked agendas. If you see the Egypt attempt to make all Ethiopian neighbors as AL members, anyone senses something smells fishy. For example, South Sudan is a Christian nation and no one speaks the language of Arabic, which is one of the criteria to be admitted as a member. This is the kind of thing that discredits the organization’s mission and purpose. Now is the time to test, whether the AL admissible criteria functional for any nation or not. Ethiopia since it has a geopolitical concern and Egypt relentless attempt to ruin the reputation of Ethiopia in the Arab world; it is time for Ethiopia to ask the observer status in the league. The Arab League (AL) opens the observer door for the farthest countries like Brazil and Venezuela. In contrast, it will likely close its door for the closest and intertwined country, Ethiopia. Egypt until recently survives, through this kind of organization and from its dirty trick which based on false accusations and deliberate attacks. Thus, the only option left for Ethiopia is to strengthen its bilateral relationship with members of the AL. If there is an opportunity to assist Libya through the UN mechanism, Ethiopia needs to be part of it. This will give an opportunity to establish a strategic relationship with Libya. It will also give an opportunity to understand the desert military geography. Additionally, it is good to evaluate the conflict of interest among Ethiopian neighbors that partake in AL. It is wise to formulate counteract strategies and act accordingly.
Negative effects can come to pass as an individual or as a nation if there is a poor controlling mechanism. It can be manifested from the day to day communication to the recent highly expected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is the individual or the country’s responsibility to limit or reduce its effect. The government needs to sift the possible negative effects of SDGs or other social policies. In the shared destiny like a nation, it is the responsibility of a citizen and a state to single out any negative attitude and stop it. As a lot of research pointed out, negative thoughts or negative words have a faster and stronger negative impact than a positive one. It is easy to think negatively. It is also easy to mobilize many innocents through a negative utterance. The so-called ethnic-based activists or tribal politicians in Ethiopia used this method to attain their get-power-quick scheme. As long as these groups satisfied their basic needs and ego, they don’t have a concern for the general public. They keep up feeding negative thoughts as fuel to continue their motion. As many scholars in clinical psychology agreed, the chronic low self-esteem or inferiority complex is the result of the collection of negative thoughts. It is hard to attain a great destiny as an individual or as a nation with negative thoughts. It makes society to get stuck at some point. Ethiopia is a good example of this. The old politicians and their disciples developed hate-based politics from their Pseudohistory. They also tried to spread this poisoning thought to the general public. As a result, this great nation trapped for limitless barren years. There is no better time than now to stop this destructive negative utterance and stand in the spirit of hope. It is time to influence the Ethiopian air, earth, plant, animal, lake, river, birds, fish, citizens, et cetera with the message of love, hope, faith, prosperity, and peace. It is time to stop the negative thoughts and energy that see its destiny as separate or set apart. Ethiopians, we don’t have independent destinies. Let us shake off the dust and arise to build a great nation with a positive attitude.
Dams have played a pivotal role in the development of many nations. Across the world, there are over 240 international rivers and numerous dams build around them. China and the USA took the biggest share of the world dams. In China, there are over 87,000 dams while in the USA, it is 84,000. Brazil, in the Amazon river alone, has over 412 dams. Recently Turkey actively engages in building mega-dam projects, and it succeeds in building 635 large dams within its territory. Whereas, Ethiopia still counts, dam construction on the fingers of one hand. Though Egypt took the biggest share on limiting this number, the former leaders of Ethiopia didn’t take proper and proactive measures. The dam projects in Ethiopia would have been a solution for the long term challenge of this country, namely poverty, hunger, lack of potable water in urban and rural areas, lack of clean energy for industries, unemployment, inhuman living conditions of rural and urban people, and lack of electricity. Ethiopia is one of the countries in Africa that have a great potential in hydropower and irrigation project, particularly in Afar, Gambela, and Somalia regions. However, until now Ethiopia used less than 1 % of its potential. This country is one of the least users of water. Ethiopia’s per capita water consumption is 125 m3 per year, which is very tiny compared to the global average which is 1000 m3. In Ethiopia, only 2% of the rural population have access to electricity; while the proportion of this segment is 84% of the total population. Ethiopia’s national energy production capacity is 4000 Megawatts. Whereas, Egypt generates 55,000 Megawatts of electricity per day, which is 3000 Megawatts higher than South Africa. Therefore, it is high time for the government of Ethiopia and its stakeholders to untapped this untouched potential. Ethiopia needs to work hard to compensate for the wasted time by formulating various short and long term strategies. In the coming few years, Ethiopia needs to build thousands of multipurpose Dams across the nation. As long as Ethiopia applied don’t harm principle, it is highly recommended to fasten this process. In this regard, China and Turkey could be a good example and mentor to excel in the field of hydropower and dam industry.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the breakthroughs that occurred in the history of humanity. The first time countries agreed enormously to this declaration. It is all about restoring the dignity of human beings and the spirit of brotherhood. Ethiopia needs to strive to achieve the common standard of this declaration. Sustainable development without a practical practice of human rights in a country like Ethiopia is an illusion. Ethiopia is one of the first 48 nations that voted in favor of the universal declaration. However, until recently the history of Ethiopia, in terms of human rights, has been shockingly evil and vile. Nowadays, there is a tangible action undertaken in the leadership of the young and visionary prime- minister. However, this effort draws multiple enemies from inside and outside. It is sad some human rights groups, and international media that suppose to be a backbone of these efforts rather became a source of obstacles. The recent biased report of Amnesty International on Ethiopia has shown how this organization is hijacked for some counterfeit causes which are against its mission. They have cooked up such fallacies and ignored the context to show us how they organized with the separatist groups to mess up the country. There are also some international media that work below their standard and became a regular communication channel of the illicit groups like that of tribe based mushroom amateur media. All in all, Ethiopia needs to be vigilant and work hard to establish credible institutes that aimed to inform, educate, and council its citizens, and to protect its people from any anecdote threat. The strong government institutes will have the capacity to expose the voice of conflict and destruction. No country builds with the support of international media, human rights groups, or humanitarian organizations. A prosperous nation crops up only through the right leadership and genuine commitment of its citizens.
Power takes a fair share to guarantee any national rights in this temporary world. Ethiopia needs to build better economic, military, and academic power than Egypt. This is a master key for stoping the unceasing ‘dirty game’ of Egypt. When Egypt claims they have a historical right on the Nile River, i.e. a concealed expression of ‘we are lifetime enemy of Ethiopia’. Thus, their wicked actions will not stop until the democratically elected leader, who believes in a win-win scenario, takes the post of Egypt presidency. On top of economic, military, and academic power, bargaining power is also key in deciding the fate of the Nile River. For example, some upper riparian states are under the control of Egypt. The Nile Initiative is not yet ratified by Kenya and Burundi. South-Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) didn’t sign the agreement. How these vital causes for their citizens take such long times? Why it is hard to overcome the mischief diplomacy of Egypt for the sake of its nationals? Why it’s hard for the concerned bodies to disseminate the fact to all stakeholders in these nations? Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania need to take the leading role in ensuring this crucial step. The success of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) on the Cooperative Framework Agreement (Software part) as important as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (hardware part). The hardware without the software could not function as perfectly as the whole package. It is true, Ethiopia always works out for a united and prosperous Africa while Egypt craves for a scattered and ‘shit-hole East Africa countries’. Thus let Ethiopians STAND UP!