Tanzania’s Rufiji River: Egypt’s Response to Ethiopia’s Accusations

Egypt concludes construction work on Rufiji Dam in Tanzania (Egyptian Cabinet)
Egypt concludes construction work on Rufiji Dam in Tanzania (Egyptian Cabinet)
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Tanzania’s Rufiji River: Egypt’s Response to Ethiopia’s Accusations

Egypt concludes construction work on Rufiji Dam in Tanzania (Egyptian Cabinet)
Egypt concludes construction work on Rufiji Dam in Tanzania (Egyptian Cabinet)

Egypt has completed the construction work of a massive dam body it is building on the Rufiji River in Tanzania, in a move considered as a message addressed to Ethiopia,

Cairo also started preparations for retaining water to fill the reservoir of the giant Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP).

The construction project has the full support of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly affirmed that Sisi gave orders on maintaining high-level quality implementation as the project represents a dream for the people of Tanzania.

An Egyptian consortium made of Arab Contractors and El-Sewedy Electric celebrated finishing the construction of the main body of the Julius Nyere Dam on Rufiji.

The construction of the main dam lasted over 687 days since the diversion of the river on November 18, 2020, in the presence of senior officials of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited, owner of the project.

Tanzania is one of the 11 Nile Basin countries.

Building the dam comes as a response to the accusations Ethiopia leveled against Egypt for allegedly inhibiting development projects in the Basin.

“The project confirms Egypt’s cooperation with the Nile Basin countries, and refutes Ethiopia's accusations,” former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mahmmoud Abu Zeid told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Egypt only rejects the lack of coordination and projects that affect the course of the Nile,” Abu Zeid added.

According to the ex-minister, Egypt is keen on achieving integration through joint development projects.

Moreover, Egypt is looking to seize the opportunity found in annual rainfall that is wasted in most Nile Basin countries.

Egyptian Minister of Housing Assem al-Gazzar confirmed that with the completion of the construction of the main dam, the Egyptian consortium has begun preparing to start holding the waters of the Rufiji River behind the dam.

This is scheduled to last for about two months (according to flood forecasts for the current year).

According to Gazzar, three giant water drainage gates have been established on three levels in the body of the dam, which will control the provision of the minimum amount of water to maintain the riverine environment below the dam.



Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."