PRETORIA: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday asked South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in a long-running dispute with Egypt over a massive dam being built on the Blue Nile River.
Ethiopia’s ties to Egypt have soured since the east African country launched the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam in 2011.
Set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa, the project has fueled tensions because Egypt depends on the river for 90 percent of its water supply.
Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan — where the Blue Nile converges with the White Nile before flowing north — started discussions in November that are meant to yield an agreement next week.
But major sticking points remained in the latest round of talks on Thursday and the parties have yet to clinch a deal.
Abiy, who visited South Africa this weekend, called on Ramaphosa to intervene in the negotiations as the next chairperson of the African Union (AU), which he will take over from Egypt this month.
“As he (Ramaphosa) is a good friend for both Ethiopia and Egypt and also as incoming AU chair, he can make a discussion between both parties to solve the issue peacefully,” Abiy told reporters at a press conference in South Africa’s political capital Pretoria.
Ramaphosa said South Africa was open to playing a role in facilitating “whatever agreement can be crafted.”
“What is pleasing, as far as I’m concerned, is that both countries are willing to discuss this matter and find solutions,” he said.
The president said he had already brought up the issue with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who was “willing to have discussions with Ethiopia.”
Abiy received the Nobel Peace Prize last month for his efforts to resolve a long-running conflict between Ethiopia and its neighboring foe Eritrea.
Just three months after Abiy took office in 2018, he ended a 20-year-old stalemate between the countries over a 1998-2000 border conflict.
US President Donald Trump made a controversial statement earlier this week in which he complained about Abiy receiving the prestigious award.
“To be honest, I don’t have any clue about... how the Nobel committee selects an individual for the prize,” said Abiy, struggling to contain a smile at the mention.
“If President Trump complained it must go to Oslo, not to Ethiopia.”
Ethiopian PM asks S.Africa to mediate Nile dam dispute
https://arab.news/6pah4
Ethiopian PM asks S.Africa to mediate Nile dam dispute
- Abiy called on South Africa’s president to intervene in the negotiations
- Ethiopia’s ties to Egypt have soured since the east African country launched the dam construction
Japan restarts world’s biggest nuclear plant
- Japan wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels
KARIWA: The world’s biggest nuclear power plant was restarted Wednesday for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, its Japanese operator said, despite persistent safety concerns among residents.
The plant was “started at 19:02” (1002 GMT), Tokyo Electric Power Company spokesman Tatsuya Matoba said of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata prefecture.
The regional governor approved the resumption last month, although public opinion remains sharply divided.
On Tuesday, a few dozen protesters — mostly elderly — braved freezing temperatures to demonstrate in the snow near the plant’s entrance, whose buildings line the Sea of Japan coast.
“It’s Tokyo’s electricity that is produced in Kashiwazaki, so why should the people here be put at risk? That makes no sense,” Yumiko Abe, a 73-year-old resident, told AFP.
Around 60 percent of residents oppose the restart, while 37 percent support it, according to a survey conducted in September.
TEPCO said Wednesday it would “proceed with careful verification of each plant facility’s integrity” and address any issues appropriately and transparently.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world’s biggest nuclear power plant by potential capacity, although just one reactor of seven was restarted.
The facility was taken offline when Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after a colossal earthquake and tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima atomic plant into meltdown in 2011.
However, resource-poor Japan now wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet growing energy needs from artificial intelligence.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has voiced support for the energy source.
Fourteen reactors, mostly in western and southern Japan, have resumed operation since the post-Fukushima shutdown under strict safety rules, with 13 running as of mid-January. The vast Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex has been fitted with a 15-meter-high (50-foot) tsunami wall, elevated emergency power systems and other safety upgrades.
However, residents raised concerns about the risk of a serious accident, citing frequent cover-up scandals, minor accidents and evacuation plans they say are inadequate.
