Egyptians’ Stance And Sentiments Toward The Nile River

Is nationalism best served by expressing passionate sentiments for one’s country in song or does a nation’s progress need more than love? Egyptians’ tendency to voice their emotional attachment to their country is not only a sign of hypocrisy; it also aims at highlighting their dependence on the state and, in turn, enhances the state’s prominence and citizens’ need for it.

Egypt is one of a few countries that produce numerous songs in praise of national glory. We sing in praise of the pyramids, the Sphinx, the Nile, ancient monuments and of course our civilization in general. The Egyptian government obviously supports this trend, rewarding such singers by enrolling them into its entourage. However, simultaneously while celebrating these songs, many of us abuse our national resources — by engaging in the illegal trafficking and mistreatment of our ancient relics, for example.

Our government is constantly repeating that the Nile is a matter of life or death for the Egyptian people. Yet we have been carelessly damaging this lifeline for decades by inefficiently consuming our share of the river’s water, polluting it with waste, and mismanaging our conflict with Ethiopia over Nile water allocation. Nonetheless, along with the abuse, we maintain our sentiments for the river, saying that visitors who drink from the Nile will always come back to our country.

Sadly, we have been carelessly damaging the Nile for decades by inefficiently consuming our share of its water, polluting it with waste disposal, and mismanaging our conflict with Ethiopia over water allocation.

The Egyptian singer who spent years singing a very emotional and popular song in praise of the Nile is currently being prosecuted because of a word that slipped out as she tried to make a joke at a live concert. Meanwhile, millions of citizens who have been abusing the Nile for decades continue to do so without being penalized.
Zooming out, many Egyptians often express their sentiments for the military and police apparatus that protect our national security, apparently convinced that spending their time singing for our soldiers who are facing terrorists and enemies on the front line is a serious pursuit that helps to keep our country in good shape. Not only is this hypocritical, it also reflects an unjust attitude toward citizens who put their lives on the line and to others whose utmost contribution is to express their love.

Many Egyptians are privileged by the state for humming “Long Live Egypt” in song. The phrase has become a password used by people to express loyalty to their country, in return for which they are granted state positions and immunity from being held to account for their ineffectiveness or for involvement in corruption. Meanwhile, Egyptians who want to play a constructive role in the development of their country are marginalized for not being in tune with the rhythm required by the state.

“Rest assured that we will solve the problem,” was President El-Sisi’s recent response to the grave concerns of Egyptians regarding their share of Nile River water upon learning that technical negotiations with the Ethiopian government on the Renaissance Dam had come to a deadlock. In my view, the Egyptian government should have negotiated this issue and struck a deal with Ethiopia when the dam was still a proposal. Now that it is close to realization, reaching a solution is infinitely more complicated.

Seeing the government lose a number of internal and external political battles makes us justifiably concerned. Candidness is not as essential a quality for a ruler as competence; a competent ruler would be able to solve our challenges — or at least to provide some sign that we are on the right track. Sadly, the Nile conflict might drag Egypt into an unpleasant internal scenario that could have been avoided had the issue been addressed well in advance.

Source: ArabNews

My Note: Such a rational thought is found very rarely among Arab folks, good observation! Egypt should better start begging Ethiopia for each drop of Nile water.Here another fake report on Qatar financing the Great Renaissance Dam. Just unbelievable – even more unbelievable how some commentators share their primitively disgusting racialist thoughts. This sort of thing is all over the net, lately. How sad!

• New Rumblings In The Horn Of Africa Over Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam

Snapshots from the comments section:

 

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አረብ ሊግ | እነ ሸህ ሰይጣነህ ኢትዮጵያን ኮነኑ

የአረብ ሊግ ሥራ አስኪያጁ (ምን ይሆን ሥራው?)የታላቁ የኢትዮጵያ ህዳሴ ግድብ በሚሊዮኖች ለሚቆጠሩ አርቦች ደህንነት መጓደል ምክኒያት ስለሚሆን በጣም አሳስቦኛል፤ ኢትዮጵያ ከእኛ ጋር እየተባበረች አይደለም፣ እንዲያውም የአባይን ውሃ በመስኖ ውስጥ ጥቅም ላይ ለማዋል ማሰቧ አሻሚ ነው” ሲሉ በኢትዮጵያ ላይ ውንጀላቸውን አሰምተዋል።

ይህን መሰሉን የአረቦች አብራካዳብራ ውንጀላና ዛቻ፡ ባለፉት ጥቂት ሳምንታት፣ አላሙዲን በታሠሩበት ማግስት፡ በተደጋጋሚ ሲሰነዘር እየሰማን ነው። አንዴ አላሙዲን ነው፣ ሌላ ጊዜ ደግሞ ኳታር ናት ለግድቡ የሚሆነውን ገንዘብ የስጧቸው እያሉ መርዛቸውን በመርጨት ላይ ናቸው። ሁሉም ነገር አስቀድሞ በደንብ የተቀነባበረ ነው። ባለፈው ሳምንት የግብጹ ፕሬዚደንት አል–ሲሲ ነበሩ ሲዝቱና ሲፎክሩ የነበሩት። በኢትዮጵያ ላይ ዛቻ ውድቀታቸውን እንደሚያስከተል ከቀደሙት መሪዎቻቸው አልተማሩም ማለት ነው። ዛቻውን በሠነዘሩ በሳምንቱ ነበር ሲናይ በርሃ የሱፊዎች መስጊድ ላይ ጥቃት ደርሶ 300 ግብጻውያን ለመገደል የበቁት።

ይህ የመስጊድ ጥቃት፡ እኔ እንደታየኝ፡ በጸረ-ክርስቶሷ ቱርክ ነበር የተቀነባበረው፦

[የማርቆስ ወንጌል ምዕራፍ ፫፥፳፯]

“ነገር ግን አስቀድሞ ኃይለኛውን ሳያስር ወደ ኃይለኛው ቤት ገብቶ ዕቃውን ሊበዘብዝ የሚችል የለም፥ ከዚያም ወዲያ ቤቱን ይበዘብዛል።”

የኦቶማንን/ኡስማን ካሊፋትን እንደገና ለማነሳሳት በመታገል ላይ ያለቸው ቱርክ የሱፊ እስልምና አገር ነች፤ ኢትዮጵያም ያሉ ሙስሊሞች ሱፊዎች ናቸው፤ “ነጃሺ” እያሉ የሚጠሩትን መስጊድ በፈቃዴ አድሳለሁ ማለቷ የረጅም ጊዜ ዕቅድ ስላላት ነው፣ ስኳሩንና ምድጃውን እንዲሁም አገሯ የከለከለቻቸውን ድራማዎች ይዛ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ መግባቷም ያለምክኒያት አይደለም፤ ቱርክ ግብጽን የመቆጣጠር እቅድ ስላላት ግብጽን በአባይ በኩል ከምትቆጣጠራት ከኢትዮጵያ ጋር ለጊዜው እንደ እባብ መለሳለሱን ስለመረጠች ነው። “ሱፊዎች የአይሲስ ሽብር ሰለባ መሆን የለባቸውም” በሚል ሃሳብ ቱርክ በ አል–ሲሲ መስተዳደር ላይ ጫና ታደርጋለች። ለግብጽ በጣም ከባድ የሆነ ጊዜ ነው እየመጣባት ያለው።

300 ሚልየን የሚሆኑ እነዚህ እርጉም አረቦች የራሻችን ብቻ የሚሏቸው 22 ሰፋፊና አገሮች አሏቸው፤ ለራሳቸው ብቻ። ሰይጣን አምላካቸውም ከምድሮቻቸው በታች ጥቁሩን ምራቁን(ነዳጅ ዘይት)አውጥተው እንዲሸጡና ዓለማችንንም እንዲበጠብጡ አድርጓቸዋል። ለኢትዮጵያውያን ያለችን አንዲት አገር ኢትዮጵያ ብቻ ናት። አረቦቹ በምዕራባውያኑ አበረታችነት ለዘመናት በኢትዮጵያ ጉዳይ ጣልቃ እየገቡ ሲያውኩን፣ ሲተናኮሉን እና እርስበርስ ሲያባሉን ቆይተዋል። አሁን የእብሪትና ትዕቢት ጊዚያቸው እያለቀ ስለሆነ፤ ኢትዮጵያ ተገቢውን ቅጣት ታሳያቸው ዘንድ የእግዚአብሔር ፈቃድ አላት። 1400 ዓመት የፈጀው የአስከፊው ውድቀታችን ዘመን አክትሟል፤ እኛ ኢትዮጵያውያን የምንጎሳቆልበትና የእነዚህ ደካሞች መቀለጂያና መሳለቂያ የምንሆንበትን ዘመን ጨርሰናል።

ስለዚህ ለእነዚህ አረቦች አርፋችሁ ተቀመጡ፡ አሊያ አንድ ኩባያ ውሃ እንኳን ከአባይ አታገኙም! ብለን አሁን ልንነግራቸው ይገባናል። ዝምታው ይብቃ!

Arab League “Extreme Concern” over Ethiopia’s Nile Dam

Worries over water security for millions of people prompted the Arab League yesterday to say it is following “with extreme concern” talks between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the latter’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which it is building on the Blue Nile.

Ethiopia was not “cooperating and coordinating enough”, said Ahmed Abul-Gheit, secretary general of the league, a regional association of 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

“We do not feel that Ethiopia was cooperating and coordinating enough. The Ethiopian plans to operate the dam and use its water in irrigation are ambiguous and concerning,” he said, reports Egyptian news site Ahramonline.

— Has The Arab League Ever Actually Done Anything For The Arabs?

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