UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Group says Ethiopian dam will have devastating effects on fishing and farming

Record ID: 725918

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Group says Ethiopian dam will have devastating effects on fishing and farming
  • Date: 8th April 2010
  • Summary: TURKANA, KENYA (FILE - JANUARY 2010) (REUTERS) FISHERMEN WALKING ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE TURKANA CLOSE UP OF DRIED FISH LAKE TURKANA AND FISHING BOATS
  • Embargoed: 23rd April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Environment / Natural World,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA9XRVEJ3IE9LELOUOLENULXBD0
  • Story Text: Half a million people will be adversely affected by massive Ethiopian dam, rights group says as it launches campaign to stop international funding of the project.
    Rights group Survival International (SI) said last week that Ethiopia's Gibe III dam project would disrupt fishing and farming for tribal people, among them the Kwegu and Hamar tribes, and a group of charities have launched an online petition against the dam.
    "The main target is the Ethiopian government but along with that are the international banks that may be considering funding this project - that's the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank," said Survival International campaigner Lindsay Duffield.
    Earlier this year, Ethiopia opened the Gibe II dam which it says will produce 420 MW of hydropower as part of efforts to beat energy shortages and become one of Africa's only power exporters.
    But Duffield says the Gibe III project will make self-sustaining tribes in the area reliant on aid.
    "The tribes of the lower Omo valley - about 200,000 people - survive, in part, by growing crops on the banks of the river. They do this in very rich soil that is laid down during the annual flood. Now, if the dam is built that flood - that natural flood, is going to disappear. The silt isn't going to be laid down and the people who rely on that silt to grow their own food, to exist in a self-sustaining way, are going to be forced into a situation where essentially they're going to have to rely on food aid," Duffield said.
    Salini Costruttori, the Italian firm building the dam, has dismissed the accusations saying the project would not cause drought or block water flow.
    Ethiopian government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said last Thursday (April 1) that "an extensive survey" had been completed by independent experts who said the construction of the dam causes no concern for people living in the area. He did not name the experts involved in the survey.
    Shimeles also said the project was supported by neighbouring Kenya.
    The dam is being built on the Omo river, the main source for Kenya's Lake Turkana. Kenyan protesters in the area demonstrated in January this year, saying the dam will cause waters to recede, inflict damage on the local economy, degrade biodiversity and increase cross-border tensions.
    "Now 300,000 people in northern Kenya, 200,000 people in the lower Omo valley, that's half a million people. None of them have been consulted about this project," Duffield said.
    Power shortages are common in Africa even though the continent has potential resources of solar, hydro, oil, gas, coal and geothermal power.
    "No one is trying to deny Ethiopia's right to electrify its country. The fact is, Gibe III dam is going to produce more electricity - more than twice the amount of electricity - than Ethiopia already uses. Most of it isn't going to stay in Ethiopia, it's going to be sold to other countries," Duffield said.
    Ethiopia rationed power for over five months last year with lights going off every second day, closing factories, hampering exports and fuelling a shortage of hard currency.
    The Horn of Africa nation began construction on the project in 2006 and is negotiating further funding for Gibe III.
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