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The dam thirsty

Catherine Amick article published in "Il Manifesto"

The region of Lake Turkana is Kenya's most arid, desert sand and stone that marks the sensitive border with Ethiopia, Sudan el 'Uganda. There, water is the most valuable asset, so that you walk up to eight hours under the hot sun to bring back home a liter. In recent years the drought has significantly reduced the seasonal rains and rivers remain dry for most of the time.
This is the land of the Turkana, Borana, Samburu and Dasanech, mainly nomadic pastoralist communities has always been in conflict for the exploitation of scarce resources. They survive by raising camels, goats, donkeys and a land inaccessible contending and access to the few available water supplies.
In this hostile environment, the lake is a key resource. For some communities it is the only source of water, although salt is used for all domestic purposes and for watering livestock. Over the years these people from the traditions millenarie hanno diversificato l'attività produttiva dedicandosi anche alla pesca. Attraverso una rudimentale catena di distribuzione e commercio, il pesce del lago Turkana arriva sui mercati di Nairobi e viene venduto anche in Uganda. Si stima che fra pescatori, distributori, commercianti e trasportatori la pesca sia l'unica fonte di reddito per 10mila famiglie, che da queste parti significa 80mila persone.
Questo fragile sistema di relazioni ecologiche e sociali potrebbe collassare per sempre se la costruzione della diga Gilgel Gibe III arriverà a compimento. Il fiume Omo scorre per 600 chilometri in Etiopia, garantendo il 90 per cento dell'acqua del lago Turkana. E proprio sul bacino dell'Omo il sodalizio fra il governo etiope e una nota azienda italiana, Salini Constructors SpA, has led to the dam project Gibe III, which could create a humanitarian and environmental crisis unprecedented in a traditionally unstable region. The dam, under construction since 2006, fully hedge up the river with a wall of 240 meters, 500 km north of Lake Turkana. In Ethiopia, the Omo Valley is also inhabited by numerous indigenous communities who live in traditional agriculture based on the flooding of the River. During the rainy season, the flood irrigate the lands naturally deposited organic matter which increases its fertility, the same technique used by ancient Egyptians along the Nile.
But in terms of drought will be the region Turkana to pay the highest price. It is estimated that the lake level drop of 10-12 feet of water by increasing the salt concentration and finally undermining domestic use and for livestock. The aquatic biodiversity will be drastically reduced, creating an irreversible crisis of the local economy. The conflicts between local populations will be exacerbated by environmental degradation and increasing poverty.
This could be done under the sign of development. The dam will have a total cost of one billion and € 800 million and could receive support from the African Development Bank and European Investment Bank. The European taxpayers' money so thirsty further una regione già duramente colpita dal cambiamento climatico e farebbero precipitare questa ampia zona dell'Africa subshariana in una nuova spirale di conflitti.

Responding To Rejection Letter

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Come i soldi destinati allo sviluppo della Banca Europea per gli Investimenti arrivano al sud e poi tornano al nord.

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Merry Christmas Mr. President

Il presidente delle BEI Philippe Maystadt si è rifiutato, due settimane fa, di incontrare tre rappresentanti della società civile africana. Invitati in Europa dalla coalizione Counter Balance hanno incontrato parlamentari, istituzioni ed ONG per spiegare gli impatti di tre progetti finanziati dalla Banca Europea per gli Investimenti: l'oleodotto Ciad-Camerun, la miniera di Tenke Fungurume in Congo ed il gasdotto della Africa Occidentale.
Se Maometto non va alla montagna, la montagna va a Maometto!

The EIB president Philippe Maystadt refused, two weeks ago, to meet three representatives of African Civil Society. They have been invited in Europe by Counter Balance coalition, they met parlamentarians, institutions and NGO's explaining the impacts of three EIB financed projects: the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, the Tenke Fungurume mine in Congo and the West Africa gas pipeline.
If Mohammed doesn't go to the mountain, we bring the mountain to Mohammed!

Catherine Amick

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Chad-Cameroon, the failure

article published by "Il Manifesto"

Another project, the son of the doctrine developed "made in Washington," is definitely failed. Last September the World Bank withdrew dall'oleodotto Chad-Cameroon, which is touted for years as an effective solution to the two countries out of poverty in Africa.
The pipeline, which came into operation in 2003 and managed by a consortium of multinational oil companies led by U.S. giant Exxon Mobil, linking three hundred oil wells in southern Chad to the Cameroonian port of Kribi, along a route of 1,070 kilometers through the rainforest. The government of Chad, the holder of mining rights of 170,000 barrels of oil a day, would have to invest the proceeds in development programs and poverty reduction. The Chad-Cameroon project was in fact one of the rare cases where years of negotiations, controversy and public protests in both countries efricani and by international environmental networks had led to public consultation and establish a mechanism that forced Chad to reinvest some of the benefits Oil in social development. And yet, as they had documented group of local and international civil society, the dictatorship of Idriss Deby, pledged to crush the rebel groups, rather than continuing to invest in weapons and other more or less legal activities for the benefit of corrupt political elite . The gesture of
World Bank was largely symbolic since Chad has repaid its outstanding debt in advance, finally freeing herself from the obligation to redistribute economic resources among the population. But give the club petrodittatori Chad also helped the European Union. The pipeline, which cost $ 3.5 billion has been supported by various bilateral and multilateral financial institutions, among which stands out as the European Investment Bank. The financial arm of the EU participated in the transaction with a loan of nearly € 60 million, although it was clear from the outset as in Chad's oil interests were the catalyst for enormous conflict between north and south of the country for control of areas for future extraction.
In the days before the decision of the World Bank, the army has raged in the region of Doba and Moundou, committing massacres, torture and extrajudicial killings against civilians. The arrival of oil has exacerbated conflicts between ethnic groups, and between traditional farmers and ranchers. The lack of dissemination of information and military presence in the few initiatives have in fact prevented from consulting with local communities the opportunity to put forward their requests and comments. The environmental risk is high: the dense network of wells planned threatens the water table below and the opening of the roads needed to build the pipeline has already caused further deforestation, in this area of \u200b\u200bcentral Africa where every year are killed 2,000 square kilometers of forest. Since the plant is operating, moreover, was not carried out any monitoring. The coalition of NGOs Counter Balance has asked the European Investment Bank to withdraw from the transaction and establish an independent commission which would identify what went wrong in the process of assessment and approval of the project, and avoid in the future to fund projects such scandalous with the guarantee of European taxpayers. But the bank at the time silent, taking refuge behind the need to consult with other donors.