A new Egyptian satellite will track the construction of an
Ethiopian hydroelectric dam over which officials in Cairo and Addis Ababa have
been locked in a standoff over fears that the project will hinder Egypt's
access to the Nile's water. Launched almost two weeks ago, Egysat will monitor
Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam by capturing high quality photos of the
construction site along with other sources of the Nile, said Alaa El-din
El-Nahry, vice president of Egypt's National Authority for Remote Sensing and
Space Sciences. The LE300 million satellite – which will come into operation in mid-June after
a two-month test period – will track the dam's height, storage capacity and
water discharge. It will also monitor the Kongo River basin to assess the
effectiveness of a proposed project to link the Kongo and Nile rivers. Egypt's government believes the satellite's findings will bolster its negotiations
with Ethiopia and provide legal ground in case it must resort to international
arbitration over any violations in the dam's stated purpose of electricity
generation, El-Nahry said during a seminar in Cairo, according to Al-Ahram's
daily Arabic newspaper. ) Egypt has been
particularly concerned that the dam, now more than 30 percent finished, will
hugely impact its share of the Nile, the country's main source of potable
water.
Source ( Al-Ahram)
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