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THE NILE: LOST CONFIDENCE IS HARD TO CONCEAL!

Teshome Abebe

May 7, 2020

For those of us who live in the West, the past few weeks have been devoted to collecting whatever is essential to protect ourselves from the health scare Covid19.  In my case, the doors are locked, the windows securely shut, and at those times when I have to venture out to get food supplies, I don my mask and wash hands as frequently as possible.  By taking these simple but necessary steps, I protect myself as well as others. Cooperative self-interest!

You would think that the world’s priorities would be to continue to safeguard against this nasty virus until it is under control, and in the process, to also note how fragile life is and has become. One of the lessons of the Covid19 health scare and any of the zoonotic disease outbreaks is that cooperation with other humans is a critical part of survival, and that non-cooperation might yield short term gains but with lethal consequences.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the great people of Egypt have yet to understand that the future of their civilization depends largely on the cooperation of others—particularly their neighbors.

This short essay is a reflection on matters involving the Nile river—hereinafter Abai—and the most recent actions of Egypt regarding its purported “negotiation” with Ethiopia.

I am neither a water economist nor a lawyer (Al Mariam has done an excellent piece on this). I have keen interest on the topic and have also written a few essays on it. Without belaboring the minutiae of where, when, and how. Let us list a few significant points.
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