Saturday April 18, 2015
By Bazi Bussuri Sheikh
Juba and Shabelle Rivers from the Ethiopian Highlands
Water is said to hit humans at a
profoundly different level than other resources. Water experts argue that people are willing
to do horrible things to each other, but they do not willingly turn off each
other’s water. Water knows no political boundaries. Water, unlike land, is hard
to “capture”, it flows and countries have a lot of reasons for cooperating over
water that flows between nations. Somalia’s
Juba and Shabelle Rivers are the only perennial and trans-boundary Rivers in
the country but two-thirds of the river basins are located outside Somalia,
mostly in Ethiopia. However, there are no agreements and tentative arrangements
between the two countries on the utilisation of the Jubba and Shabelle
rivers. The aim of this piece to
encourage the two countries initiate joint project to create sufficient
institutional capacity (e.g., treaties) to enhance the hydro-resilience or
their ability to absorb change without negative consequences. Water cooperation normally forges people-to-people or
expert to expert and as a peacemaking strategy it can create shared regional
identities and institutionalise cooperation on issues larger than water.
Implementing these measures will be daunting due
to the historical disputes and military conflicts between the two countries. There was in fact
an opportune moment for the two nations to effectively reconcile and cooperate,
especially the first five years of Zenawi government. Initially, the Ethiopian
government has undertaken positive initiatives such as the well treatment of
Somali refugees that crossed to Ethiopian borders (still happening) and
non-interference of the internal politics. This was an effective de-escalating
gesture as the ordinary Somalis who crossed the border interacted with their
Ethiopian counterparts. This helped break down the negative images, stereotypes
that existed and such transformative experience could have expanded beyond
individuals to eventually whole societies in the region. Unfortunately, from 1996 Zenawi government
took the wrong path by adopting an ambiguous foreign policy towards Somalia.
Most political analysts agree that the government in Addis opted for a weak
Somali state which is completely dependent on Ethiopian Support. On the
surface, it may seem the obvious and logical thing to do with your old enemy,
but in reality it does not work and historically proven to be counterproductive
and impractical.
A country can only rise by lifting another country. There is an
Ethiopian saying of “The same water never runs
into the same river”
meaning no moment in time is ever the same
and the past is gone. The past taught both
nations that each side cannot defeat the other and also made them acknowledge
their positive interdependence as each side’s goals are tied together in such a
way that the chance of one side attaining its goal is increased by the
probability of the other side successfully attaining its goal. One of the main wisdom builders learn from
building a strong wall is that for the big stone to be stable and strong you
need a smaller stone to hold, otherwise the wall will fall. Similarly bigger countries around the world
need to appreciate the importance of smaller countries. This is an area where the big African
countries failed to acknowledge, whilst the Europeans understood the importance
of the smaller countries within the European Union. There will be no freedom
for one country if all countries in the region fail to understand their mutual
dependence.
Getting
back to our main subject of addressing fair water sharing and management, we
need not to wait until the conflict in the region ends. We rather need to use fair water sharing and
management as the route to create the right conditions for peace and prosperity
to emerge in region. Ethiopia in this case must act with modesty and be the
driving force towards water cooperation between the two countries. We must
follow the Example of water cooperation between Senegal, Mali and
Mauritania. Senegal as the most upstream
state was a driving force towards cooperation and joint water management of
Senegal River and this proved to be successful and complementary. The
dams built were jointly owned by the three member states and this satisfied
their multiple interests. Similarly the
two countries (Ethiopia and Somalia) that share Juba and Shabelle Rivers need to
pursue similar route wholeheartedly to revive the peaceful coexistence the
region has enjoyed during pre-colonial period.
Historically, the pre-colonial period, the Horn region and East African
Swahili were buzzing with trade and the volume of regional intra-trade was very
high.
There
are many factors that lead to a success in water cooperation between riparian
countries and the main factors include:
1. Genuine Participatory Approach
The words such as
“Inclusive, Participation or people driven” are used as buzz-words with no actual application
in development projects. But once
genuinely applied in joint water cooperation projects, it is the most effective
way to build a strong organisational forms of regional cooperation. Water
management is 10% water management and 90% people management and listening to
one another is a key to this approach. This meaning listening to stakeholders
such as local river users, traditional leaders and local governments as they
have indigenous knowledge gained through trial and error for centuries. The most dramatic results always happen when ideas are combined (Modern
+ Old) and this is what produced some of history’s breakthroughs. Many
development experts blamed failure to listen the ordinary people for their
project failure. Below is a talk by Ernesto
Sirolli who worked in many African countries including
Somalia explaining how one project they carried out in Zambia’s Zambezi River failed
and the way forward.
2.
The
Media Must Play a Supportive Role
The mainstream media normally hype and inflame the water conflicts
and phrases like “Water wars” makes for a great eye-catching headline. But the problem is the mass media base their
arguments on an appeal to emotion, rather than on fact. Therefore the media,
just as any other actor in conflict, must be aware of the consequences of their
actions in the hope that they will ultimately alleviate tension, rather than
exacerbate it. The media can play
an important role in the trust building process by using news reporting as a
way to increase the value of established functional trust while simultaneously
encouraging the parties not to
violate that trust.
One relevant approach is the
media adopting peace journalism, in which reporters draw on the insights of
Water cooperation dialogue assessment and resolution to try to better explain
the interests of each side and the conflict dynamics. Media outlets can be a vital part of this process,
spreading information about the water treaty agreement and the benefits of it
in the attempt to get people to understand and embrace the agreements.
3.
Political
Will
Politicians
at local, national and regional level must show and demonstrate real desire for
fair water sharing and management between the riparian countries. They should not use water conflicts to
maintain internal cohesion especially when they are facing other domestic
problems and must reduce red tape that hinders the project. The recent
Egypt and Ethiopia water dispute showed that both leaders were expressing
unnecessary psychological war of words. Good
leaders demonstrate courage when living with their value even when faced with lack
of consensus. The International law principals
relating to global water management are based on Universal values and self-same
values are embodied in religions around the world. For example, the international law principles
reconcile with the Islamic understanding that water is a gift of Allah and
hence all creatures have the right to drink, that water should be apportioned
equitably for other users and no one has the right to withhold surplus water
from others.
Finally,
it is vital that those
wishing to transform or resolve Horn region conflict, to acknowledge the past,
and take into account the effects past imperialist policies continue to have on
today's post-colonial societies. For
those concerned about the possibility of future strong Somali State will strike
its neighbours, be assured that it will not do so. This is not due to fear or accepting defeat,
but an acknowledgement of the interdependency and interconnectedness between
the neighbouring countries. Therefore
dismantling your enemy when it is weak does not work and has un-intended
consequences. History
has shown how counterproductive the Morgenthau Plan for post war Germany was.
This was a draconian plan to dismantle Germany and make them impossible to
threaten or strike again. This has
failed horribly and the US government switched policies and took different
line. This gave way to Marshal Plan and this is
what most development literature writes about as it is the bit everyone likes
to remember. For more details how far the plan was implemented and why we have
forgotten to remember it, listen to this BBC Radio4 program http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jgj0p
As Gandhi has reminded us: “The earth has enough for
everyone’s needs, but not for some people’s greed. One of the problem
is the expansion of markets and of market values into spheres of life where
they don’t belong and this remains one of the most significant development of
our time. The only way to safety is to follow the advice
given to us by our African ancestors and that is “Cross the river in crowd and
the Crocodile won’t eat you”. It should
not only be the water that flows freely in the river Basins of the Horn region,
but also trust, benefits and values. Ordinary
people in the region are really tired of waiting for the lasting peace they
have dreamt for decades.
Bazi Bussuri Sheikh
[email protected]