Woldemariam Discusses Nile Politics in Foreign Affairs
Michael Woldemariam, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an article in Foreign Affairs discussing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and how it has effected regional stability.
In the article, titled “Nile Be Dammed,” Woldemariam discusses the GERD project – a major hydroelectric project, which promises to make Ethiopia an energy powerhouse – and how it has effected domestic and international relations in the Horn of Africa. Not only has the project and “Nile River nationalism” caused increased tensions between Ethiopian, Egypt, and Sudan, but it has also complicated two of the regions most promising democratic transitions. While disputes surrounding the GERD continue and diplomacy falters, Woldemariam argues that stability in the Nile River basin and the Horn of Africa must come from within and not from intervening global forces.
An excerpt:
Negotiations between [Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan] have made some progress, but they have failed to resolve critical issues, such as the appropriate mechanism for dispute resolution or rules for operating the GERD in periods of protracted drought. Egypt and Sudan had demanded that the parties reach an agreement before Ethiopia could begin filling the reservoir, but Addis Ababa pushed ahead anyway—using raw engineering and construction might to upend what it saw as an unfair distribution of natural resources. Negotiations will likely continue…but so, too, will tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa as they wrangle for influence in their immediate neighborhood and just beyond.
The full article can be read here.
Michael Woldemariam is an associate professor of International Relations at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies whose teaching and research interests are in African security studies, with a particular focus on armed conflict in the Horn of Africa. Woldemariam’s scholarly work has been published in the journals Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Terrorism and Political Violence, Journal of Strategic Studies, and the Journal of Eastern African Studies. Read more here.