Ethiopia thwarts attack on Nile dam, Sudan apprehended 7 attackers
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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
March 2, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia on Thursday said its security
forces have foiled a plot to attack the country’s massive power plant
project, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which the horn
Africa’s nation is constructing on Nile River near the Sudanese
border.
JPEG - 19.2 kb
The planned Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project (AP)
State Minister for Government Communication Affairs, Ato Zadig Abraha,
said the security forces have successfully foiled an attempted attack
by some 20 members of Ethiopian rebel group self-calling, Benishangul
Gumez Peoples Liberation Movement.
He said 13 members of the group were shot dead while approaching the
dam site to launch the attack.
While seven others who fled away to the Sudanese territory were later
apprehended by Khartoum and delivered to the Ethiopian authorities.
Abraha added that the armed men travelled from Eritrea and were tasked
to attack the dam and disrupt its construction process.
Ethiopia has repeatedly accused arch-foe Eritrea of training and
financing Ethiopian armed opposition groups to launch attacks in
Ethiopian, allegations Asmara denies.
The 4.2 billion dollar dam project which Ethiopia is constructing from
own coffers is currently 56% completed.
Egypt which largely depends on Nile river for its water supply fears
that the construction of what would be Africa’s largest dam would
eventually diminish its water share and had since the launch of the
project in 2011 been demanding halt to the mega power project.
Recently Ethiopian officials had been accusing some elements in Cairo
of financing and supporting Ethiopian armed groups to sabotage
completion of the project.
Some unidentified Egyptians were caught on camera while pledging to
provide all necessary support for Ethiopian armed opposition groups.
Addis Ababa has then officially requested an explanation and requested
that Egypt stops activities of these hostile groups.
Meanwhile, the installed hydropower generation capacity of the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been increased to 6,450MW from
6000.
Initially, the dam was designed to generate 5,250MW. However, due to
the upgrading made on the power plant, its generation capacity has
been raised from 5,250 MW to 6,000 MW.
It was upgraded to 6450MW as a result of the improvement made on
generators to boost the capacity of the power plant.
Since its launch six years ago the power plant had been upgraded twice
to scale up it electricity generation capacity.
Ethiopia minister of communication and information technology,
Debrestion Gebremical, last week said works are nearing completion to
enable the dam to generate 750MW in advance.
“Construction of power receiver and transmission stations as well as
the installation of power transmission lines have been fully
completed. The only thing left is fixing the two turbines that
generate 375MW each,” he told local journalists.
The next step he said is enabling the dam to hold water, he said,
indicating the final preparation being made by the government to
facilitate ways in which the filling of the dam’s reservoir will take
place.
“We are preparing to discuss with the governments of Sudan and Egypt,”
he said, reiterating that “the dam doesn’t cause any significant harm
on the lower riparian countries.” the minister added.
Ethiopian officials stress that the main goal of the dam is “combating
poverty and realising development and prosperity”
Ethiopia which intends to join middle-income countries by 2025 is
investing billions of dollars in mega projects as part of the nation’s
efforts to combat poverty and bring sustainable development.
Ethiopia is a source of 85 percent of the Nile water resources which
most of Egypt’s over 80 million people depend on for water supply.
(ST)
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