Obama Urged to Talk On Gibe 3 Dam | The East African
This article was oringally published in The East African.
Environmental activists in Kenya and the United States are urging President Barack Obama to raise concerns about an Ethiopian dam's impact on Kenya when he meets with government officials in Addis Ababa this week.
"The Gibe 3 Dam is one of the most environmentally and socially destructive projects in Africa," Kenyan campaigner Ikal Ang'elei told President Obama in a letter earlier this month co-signed by the head of the US-based International Rivers group.
Ms Ang'elei, who was honoured at the White House in 2012 after winning a $150,000 environmental prize, warned that the recently completed dam on Ethiopia's Omo River will drastically reduce the flow of water into Lake Turkana.
Environmental activists in Kenya and the United States are urging President Barack Obama to raise concerns about an Ethiopia dam's impact on Kenya when he meets with government officials in Addis Ababa this week.
"The Gibe 3 Dam is one of the most environmentally and socially destructive projects in Africa," Kenyan campaigner Ikal Ang'elei told President Obama in a letter earlier this month co-signed by the head of the US-based International Rivers group.
Ms Ang'elei, who was honoured at the White House in 2012 after winning a $150,000 environmental prize, warned that the recently completed dam on Ethiopia's Omo River will drastically reduce the flow of water into Lake Turkana.
Kenya's electricity grid is also set to benefit from the dam through a World Bank-financed transmission line designed to carry 500 Megawatts of power.Kenyan officials have not responded to warnings about the dam's effects on the peoples living near Lake Turkana, the activists say.
Worst-case scenarios envision the lake slowly dying over the coming decades, forcing an estimated 90,000 members of small Kenyan tribes to abandon their ancestral area.
The US role as a key development partner of both Kenya and Ethiopia potentially enables President Obama "to broker an open discussion about how to equitably share the Omo River to minimise disruption to those who live downstream," said International Rivers policy analyst Josh Klemm.
The White House has not responded to the July 13 letter sent by Ms Ang'elei and Mr Bosshard. They urge the US president to "use your good offices" with the Ethiopian government to help ensure that sufficient flows from the Omo continue to reach Lake Turkana.
