Addis Ababa, July 2, 2022(Walta) – Egypt should correct its slanted rhetoric about Ethiopia and cooperate for mutual benefits, the Ethiopian historian and researcher Adem Kamil said.
The scholar told ENA that successive Egyptian regimes have been politicizing the water issue and Egyptian institutions negatively portray Ethiopia in various events.
According to the scholar, Egyptians have conducted 560 conferences and seminars about the Abay River and conducted 1,500 researches, writing 225 about Ethiopia out of the 2,222 books about Africa.
“All these are done in Arabic and this shows how much focus they give to Ethiopia,” he added.
Adem further noted that the Egyptians diligently worked for many years to depict Ethiopia in a negative way and misled many people about Ethiopia’s ownership of the Abay River.
At least 4,000 media outlets are solely working for Egyptian interests and against Ethiopian affairs, especially when it comes to the Abay River, the scholar stated, adding that successive regimes in the country have been doing the same thing.
Ethiopians started focusing on the issue of the Abay River since 2011, the inception of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Adem stressed the need to do more from the Ethiopian side to show the true image of Ethiopia.
About 80,000 Egyptians were deployed in key international institutions to prevent Ethiopia from getting support as there was a belief that Ethiopians cannot complete the construction of GERD without external financial support.
The scholar underscored that strategies to weaken and destabilize Ethiopia will not work anymore as the completion of GERD is inevitable and cooperation is the way forward.
Ethiopians have to be aware of the country’s motives and build strong institutions to correct wrongdoings and encourage progressive cooperation for mutual benefits from the resource, Adem added.
Kings of Blue Nile Channel Director, Ustaz Jemal Bashir said Egypt’s concerns are directly and indirectly related to the Abay River and the dam.
Their direct concern to filling and operationalizing the hydro dam can be resolved through negotiations, he noted, adding that indirect efforts to alienate Ethiopia from the Arab world are unacceptable.
He pointed out that they wrongly depict Ethiopia as a Christian country with governments oppressing Muslims.
According to him, Ethiopia should build Arabic media and research institutions as well as strengthen Islamic institutions to correct the wrong rhetoric and improve its connection with the Arab states.
Ustaz Jemal concluded that the relationship between Ethiopia and Egypt and the Arab world can further be improved through constructive engagement and building strong institutions that inform to enhance relations.