Ethiopia's controversial mega-dam on Nile tributary

* More than half of Ethiopia's 110 million people have no electric power.

* Almost all of Ethiopia is under some level of food stress.

* The Nile basin contains some 11 countries

* More than 80% of the Nile waters come out of Ethiopia

* Some 70% of the rivers in Ethiopia are parts of the Nile basin

* Out of these countries, only Egypt and Sudan use the Nile river for irrigation and power generation.

* This happened due to Colonial era agreements in which great Britain (Then ruling Egypt) brokered agreements which "gave" Egypt usage and veto rights. Most of the Nile basin countries were colonies of GB and they had no say in the matter (that I can find recorded in history). Ethiopia was an exception as it was not colonized, but it was not consulted by the British and is not signatory to the agreements. And It was fighting to maintain its independence against Europe so it had little power to spare for water politics at the time.

* In 1959, The Sudanese and Egyptians governments met and awarded each other 18.5 billion cubic meter of water and 55 billion cubic meters of water respectively. Again ignoring the other Nile basin countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia....

* Egypt is unfortunately threatening us with war if there is a drop in their water share. I can basically paraphrase their UNSC statement as saying "Peace and security will be impacted in the horn of Africa because we will start war on Ethiopia".

* I am an Ethiopian, and I realize that Egypt relies on the Nile. As far as I can see, public opinion here (to the extent I see it) is not about depriving Egypt of water and life, it's about living a life of dignity. It's about a fair and equitable use of the water.

Again, unfortunately, Egypt is signing military deals with Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda in what is perceived here as an intimidation campaign. My two cents, there is 0 chance these countries will ever stand against Ethiopia regarding the Nile water usage. =I am perplexed that they are making an enemy out of Ethiopia when 80% of the Nile comes from here. That's no way to secure your future.

As a lover of ancient history, I am fascinated by Egypt and their reach history. I think the way to secure Egypt's future is by cooperation with all Nile basin countries to protect and further develop the Nile river basin such that the we raise the total water contained in the basin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_politics_in_the_Nile_Bas...

> Earth is not gaining much by having millions of Egyptians - just increased resource degradation

EDIT: It also says the reason for Egypt's higher fertility rate is Islam, while comparing it to Bangladesh, another Muslim country. So it's not like the comment is racist but insightful if you ignore racism. It's racist and nonsensical.

Not everything is racist. Racism is when you judge someone by their ethnicity alone. Racism is when you deny someone opportunities based only on their skin colour. Etc...

I'm not going to automatically assume that every Irish woman I meet is a baby-making machine just because most Irish tend to be catholic. That would be stupid. That however doesn't negate the prior fact. Catholics as a group generally tended to oppose birth control.

Making statistical observations about a nation, with numbers, is just science. Making judgements about official policy, whether it is political or religious in nature, is a statement about the policy, not any individual person.

Be careful not to fall into the trap of labelling things with the most extreme version, it limits your ability to think clearly. Not every left-leaning policy is communist. Not every right-leaning policy is fascist. Not every comment about a country is racist.