I'd keep it, as Zanzibar is still namedropped among the general populace for such purposes.
Vice news vid on Somalia:
So Ethiopia has begun filling
the Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD), built across the Blue Nile, the primary source of the Nile. This has major ramifications for Egypt and Sudan (but more the former), who are worried about Addis Ababa having so much control over their sole source of drinkable water. Ethiopia hasn't helped matters, not wanting to be beholden to any sort of water quota.
They had always said they would start doing so this month, but Egypt had kept warning them not to. Now the ball is in Cairo's court.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I think Ethiopia being so dismissive of Egyptian concerns is going to come back to bite them in a big way. In past centuries, wars were fought over this kind of thing.
Exactly. And its drawing attention from various other powers taking sides, and also Sudan trying to play both.
This article by Ahmed Aboudouh in Independent is arguing that Egypt may have no choice but to actually attack Ethiopia. I'm skeptical, but if this happens it could escalate into a devastating conflict.
Not sure how devastating it could be. Egypt has the stronger military (and Ethiopia, frankly, has other problems to worry about internally). Neither borders the other...if they were to go total war against one another, it'd be over Sudan, and I'm sure Khartoum would have something to say about that.
I do agree with the idea that Egypt has to do something drastic to show its serious though. Methinks the Egyptian Air Force will blow the dam.
Cringe but free
Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan to Meet Over Dam Dispute.
Talks Set to Resume Over Nile Dam Dispute
Representatives of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt are expected to meet today to present their proposals for the management of Ethiopia’s controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. “The attendees decided to resume negotiations … to work on unifying the texts of the agreements submitted by the three countries,” the Sudanese water ministry said in a statement.
Damming the Nile. The dispute began in 2011 after Ethiopia broke ground on the $4.5 billion project on the Blue Nile—one of the river’s major tributaries which provides 80 percent of its waters. The Ethiopian government considers the dam to be a critical part of its future economic development, claiming it will provide 60 percent of Ethiopian households with electricity, as well as fresh water for its rapidly expanding population.
Threat to its neighbors. But the dam is a potential threat to the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan. For Egypt in particular, a huge proportion of its population lives along the banks of the Nile, relying on the river for irrigation and drinking water. Egyptian officials argue that damming the Nile closer to its source in Ethiopia could severely threaten the country’s water supply.
The controversy came to a head in July after Ethiopia began filling the reservoir, a move Egypt and Sudan both said could not happen until the three countries had agreed to a legally binding deal. In July, Foreign Policy’s Kathryn Salam rounded up our best coverage on the dam dispute.
Will this time be different? There have been several attempts to forge a long-term agreement between the three countries and international actors including the United States over the issue, but none have produced a lasting framework. Although the filling of the reservoir seems to have injected a renewed sense of urgency into the talks, there are still several hurdles that must be overcome before the issue can be settled.
Can the U.S. be an honest broker? Writing for FP in March, Addisu Lashitew argued that U.S. mediation had “ended up fueling tension in an already heated disagreement” due to perceptions of the Trump administration’s pro-Egyptian bias. “The U.S. government has also squandered its hard-won soft power in Ethiopia,” Lashitew wrote, noting that “Sticks and carrots from Washington are … unlikely to succeed in getting Ethiopia to step into a treaty that purportedly affects its right to use Nile waters,” especially in an election year when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is facing domestic unrest. That’s because the dam is a rare unifying issue and a source of national pride in Ethiopia.
It seems Ethiopia is about to head into civil war. The Tigray Region has attacked Federal Army troops, according to the Ethiopian PM.
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
The federal government retaliated, looks like civil war is near inevitable. If the conflict isn't reigned in, a massive refugee crisis is expected since a lot of refugee camps are in the Tigray region.
Edited by Resileafs on Nov 6th 2020 at 9:44:36 AM
She/Her Pronouns
Apparently Addis is also removing some troops from Somalia to deal with this, and refugees are fleeing into Sudan.
If this doesn't get resolved quickly, this could spill over into basically every nearby country.
The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer
What's the point of bombing Eritrea?
ok boomer
Cringe but free
No idea, but the Tigray region is right at the border with Eritrea and Tigrayans made up much of Ethiopia's fighting force during its war with Eritrea. Hence why the Tigrayan militias are relatively well-armed and trained.
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
Apparantly, they claimed Eritrea is working with Ethiopia and lent them troops to use against them. So they bombed Eritrea in retaliation.
Edited by kkhohoho on Nov 16th 2020 at 8:09:40 AM
Cringe but free
Social media is really important for political movements nowadays.
ok boomer
Cringe but free
Ethiopia PM gives Tigray forces 72 hours to surrender regional capital. Oof, starting to sound a tad genocidal there - though admittedly observers had been warning of that since he won his Nobel. Plus the internet and media blackout in the conflict zone isn't helping the reporting any.
Even Ethiopian-backed fact checking sites are also peddling fake info on what's happening in Tigray.
Is it war crimes? I have a feeling it's war crimes.
Not yet based on what I've seen so far.
Cringe but free
VICE interviews Tigrayan refugees stranded in Sudan. First time I've seen real video footage of the conflict. And h*ck, the cross-border tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan are giving off a truly uncomfortable amount of Congo Wars vibes.
Edited by eagleoftheninth on Dec 29th 2020 at 7:22:06 AM
Echoing hymn of my fellow passerine | Art blog (under construction)
If that's true then Egypt might make use of that tension for its GERD dispute. Sudan was largely on Addis Ababa's side for that one.
Should East Africa continue to be mentioned Tropical Island Adventure? Most examples are in or based on the Caribbean, Oceania or Southeast Asia, but East Africa does have a bunch of tropical islands (Madagascar most notably, but there is also Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles and the French territories, as well as Zanzibar in Tanzania), and there is still a decent number of media set in Madagascar and islands in the Indian Ocean near it, even though there are not nearly as many as the Caribbean, Oceanian or Southeast Asia.
Edited by CookingCat on Jan 23rd 2020 at 11:00:18 AM