Ethiopia has never been colonized so it does not speak any of the international languages. Instead it is a nation of about 100 languages. There are lots of Ethiopians in the US and I have seen large numbers in Israel.
The reason the world is paying attention to Ethiopia is water. Few realize that about 86% of the water that flows down the Nile past Sudan and Egypt originates in Ethiopia.
On the Blue Nile, the key tributary feeding the Nile, Ethiopia is near completion of a monster dam called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam or GERD. It will take years to fill the water behind the dam. But Ethiopia promises to allow adequate quantities of water through the dam to meet the needs of Sudan and Egypt.
If I was Egypt I would look to desalination and Israel to deal with its water needs long term.
What gets tricky is that China has lent Ethiopia something like $16 billion which has made the dam financially possible.
Despite all the potential economic benefits bringing a power supply to the nation, with a new hydro facility everything seems toxic.
Egypt feels threatened. Egypt is Muslim and Ethiopia is mostly Christian. The Nile is already shrinking because of climate change. And if the western area of Ethiopia has future droughts, it might want to limit flows of water from behind the dam. And is China really a friendly banker?
Then we have water stressed areas in the eastern areas of Ethiopia. The photo shows water being delivered by truck and made available for locals. Apparently only about 60% of the Ethiopian population has access to clean water.
Not easy to understand tribal societies. There is water for coffee, water for oil seeds, water for mining gold. But. water for the people who are not part of your tribal coalition. Questionable. At least with electrical power, we will see a lot of drilling for water.
More small scale projects is what all developing societies need.
02-08 Ethiopia
(blank) » John Bulloch » 27 Quirky Water » 02 Nations »
A nation with water and lush forests in the west and dry arid areas in the east. A monster dam nearly completed and financed by China will give the nation a supply of electricity for development. But the dam will enable Ethiopia to control the flow of water in the Nile that is critical to Sudan and Egypt.