Borneo Bulletin Digital

27 / 32

World 27
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2020
CAIRO (AP) — Three key Nile basin countries
on Monday resumed their negotiations
to resolve a years-long dispute over the
operation and illing of a giant hydroelectric
dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile,
oficials said.
The talks came a day after tens of thousands
of Ethiopians looded the streets of their
capital, Addis Ababa, in a government-backed
rally to celebrate the irst stage of the illing
of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s 74
billion-cubic-metre reservoir.
Ethiopia’s announcement sparked fear
and confusion downstream in Sudan and
Egypt. Both Khartoum and Cairo have repeat-
edly rejected the illing of the massive reser-
voir without reaching a deal among the Nile
basin countries.
Ethiopia said the damwill provide electricity
tomillions of its nearly 110million citizens, help
bring them out of poverty and also make the
country a major power exporter.
Egypt, which depends on the Nile River to
supply its booming population of 100 million
people with fresh water, asserts the damposes
an existential threat.
Sudan, between the two countries, said
the project could endanger its own dams —
though it stands to beneit from the Ethiopian
dam, including having access to cheap
electricity and reduced looding.
The conluence of the Blue Nile and the
White Nile near Khartoum forms the Nile River
that then lows the length of Egypt and into the
Mediterranean Sea.
Irrigation ministers of Egypt, Sudan and
Ethiopia took part in Monday’s talks, which
were held online amid the coronavirus
pandemic. The virtual meeting was also
attended by oficials from the African Union
(AU) and South Africa, the current chairman
of the regional block, said Sudan’s Irrigation
Minister Yasir Abbas.
Oficials from the United States (US)
and the European Union (EU) were also in
attendance, said Egypt’s Irrigation Ministry.
Technical and legal experts from the three
countries would resume their negotiations
Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia
return to talks over
disputed dam
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region
of Ethiopia. PHOTO: AP
based on reports presented by the AU and
the three capitals following their talks in July,
Abbas said.
The three ministers would meet online
again tomorrow, he added.
E t h i o p i a n P r i me M i n i s t e r A b i y
Ahmed attributed the reservoir’s ill-
ing to the torrential rains looding the
Blue Nile — something that occurred
naturally, “without bothering or hurting
anyone else.”
However, Egypt’s Irrigation Minister
Mohammed Abdel-Atty said the illing,
without “consultations and coordination”
with downstream countries, sent “negative
indications that show Ethiopian unwillingness
to reach a fair deal”.
Ethiopia’s Irrigation Ministry posted on its
Facebook page that it would work to achieve
a “fair and reasonable” use of the Blue
Nile water.
Key sticking points remain, including how
much water Ethiopia will release downstream
if a multi-year drought occurs and how the
countries will resolve any future disputes.
Egypt and Sudan have pushed for a
binding agreement, which Ethiopia rejects
and insists on non-binding guidelines.
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Foreign Minister
resigned on Monday amid a severe economic
and inancial crisis gripping the country,
warning that a lack of vision and a will to
make changes is risking turning Lebanon into
a “failed state”.
Nassif Hitti is the irst Cabinet minister
to step down from his post amid the crisis,
which poses as the most signiicant threat to
the country since a devastating 15-year civil
war ended in 1990.
His resignation is a blow to Prime Min-
ister Hassan Diab’s government, which
has struggled to implement reforms amid
rapidly spiralling inlation and soaring un-
employment and poverty, made worse by the
coronavirus pandemic.
A few hours later, Diab held a meeting with
President Michel Aoun after which Charbel
Wahbe, a presidential adviser, was appointed
to succeed Hitti as Foreign Minister.
Hitti, after submittinghis resignation toDiab,
left the government house without making
any comments earlier on Monday. Later, he
issued a strongly worded statement explaining
his resignation, saying the government had
failed to manage the crisis and implement the
required reforms to save the country.
“After giving it a lot of honest thought, I have
come to the conclusion that I cannot perform
my duties in these historical circumstances,”
Hitti said. He said he had decided to resign
“due to the absence of a vision for Lebanon
and the absence of an effective will to achieve
comprehensive structural reform”.
In a stark warning, he said Lebanon
was turning into a “failed state” and urged
politicians to rally around the country’s
national interest.
“I took part in this government to work for
one boss called Lebanon. I found inmy country
multiple bosses and conlicting interests,”
he said. “If they do not come together in the
interest of the Lebanese people, the ship will
sink with everyone on board.”
Lebanese Foreign Minister quits over lack of will to reform
Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti.
PHOTO: AP
HARARE, ZIMBABWE (AP) — Zimbabwe’s mili-
tary and police are arresting scores of opposi-
tion members and activists after authorities
thwarted an anti-government protest last
week, according to rights groups.
Over 60 people have been arrested so far
in the continuing clampdown, said Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, which is providing
lawyers for the arrested people. Last week
internationally known author Tsitsi Danga-
rembga was arrested for a peaceful protest
and spent a night in police cells before being
released on bail.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the
MDC Alliance, said dozens of its oficials have
been arrested or have gone into hiding. If
state agents do not ind the person they want
to arrest, they often vandalise their homes
and harass their relatives, said opposition
spokesman Tendai Biti.
Human rights groups accuse President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration of
clamping down on dissent under the guise
of enforcing anti-COVID£19 lockdown rules.
The Zimbabwean police and government
oficials have repeatedly denied allegations
of human rights abuses, saying those
arrested or being sought by the police
were inciting people to revolt against
Mnangagwa’s government.
On Monday, a judge postponed until
tomorrow a bail hearing for Hopewell
Chin’ono, an investigative journalist who has
been in jail for two weeks on accusations of
mobilising the foiled protests.
Another investigative journalist, Mdudzuzi
Mathuthu, prominent for reporting on alleged
government corruption linked to purchases of
COVID£19 personal procurement equipment
and drugs, is in hiding.
“I am hiding like a rat in my own coun-
try for doing nothing more than my job,”
Mathuthu told The Associated Press (AP)
on Monday.
“Journalism is just a job, but in Zimbabwe
it can be a matter of life and death. They have
not only come just after me, but my family
as well,” he said.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli ighter jets
and attack helicopters struck military
targets in southern Syria belonging to
the Syrian army on Monday night, hours
after thwarting an iniltration attempt
from Syria by suspected militants
trying to plant explosives, the Israeli
military said.
In a rare statement acknowledging
strikes in neighbouring Syria, the army
said the targets included “observation
posts and intelligence collection
systems, anti-aircraft artillery facilities
and command and control systems” in
Syrian army bases.
Syria acknowledged the strikes, saying
that Israeli helicopters ired missiles
at Syrian army outposts and reported
unspeciied “material damage”.
The incident comes amid heightened
tension on Israel’s northern frontier
following a recent Israeli airstrike that
killed a Hezbollah ighter in Syria and
anticipation that the militant Lebanese
group would retaliate.
Israel bombs targets
in southern Syria
amid tensions
Zimbabwe continues arrests of critics, says opposition party
Zimbabwe journalist Hopewell Chin’ono at
the Magistrate’s Courts. PHOTO: AP