On our current topic. And. Committed. To the point. Of america because. This is the that new news after attack coming up in the next 15 minutes get us back over water that leads to wall if you hope he has a massive dam projects are wrong denial has egypt fearing for its water supply this year countries all facing so agree on how quickly the rights of all should be felt. Bad and there are millions of them theyre hungry and building anything in their cars the worst pest play in 70 years is swarming across the horn of africa. Hello im christine come to africa to have your company this year is the 4000000000 donna dam project that has sparked a diplomatic dispute between egypt and ethiopia the construction off the grand ethiopian bernay sandstad is nearly complete if you expect filling it this year with water from the blue nile valley egypt relies on the nile for 90 percent of its water supply and fears it could have a shortage of water when ethiopia starts to fill the dam now more about the diplomatic fallout in a moment but 1st our reporter traveled to the site of the megaprojects a concrete colossus 145 meters High Construction work covering a total of 11 square kilometers its poised to become the countrys biggest source of electricity. Project is no well underway. Is the biggest construction site in the country and africas largest hydroelectric paradigm it is almost 2 kilometers long and will produce more than 15000 hour of electricity starting 2022 using the waters of the blue nile river as the year the double potentially provide power for tens of millions of ethiopian households and a significant part of the electricity will be sold to neighboring countries to complete the project in time 6000. 00 employees are working around the clock often under the scorching sun in the hottest months temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees. Husband a mechanical engineer here from the in 2011. The proposal is to store water so the water. Flows and. Instead of one generates electricity and the project doesnt consume. All the water stored will pass through the turbine generating electricity and water as a means to them again on each side of the river 2 powerhouses will host a total of 13 turbines the construction was delayed considerably over the years mainly because of corruption and mismanagement issues exist has been working here for 5 years like many others he wants to see the dam completed as soon as possible. A country has a problem of access to electricity so this project will be very beneficial for ethiopia and not only us also for other african countries that are going to give us some to ensure enough water supply for the dam a reservoir with a capacity of over 74000000000 cubic metres will be flooded and form an artificial lake. Covered with water. That has led to a diplomatic deadlock with egypt the last country downstream on the nile egypt fears that if the reservoir is filled up too quickly this will severely impact the flow of the river and thus egypts water supply ethiopia insists on having the reservoir filled within the next 7 years while egypt says ethiopia is not offering sufficient guarantees on water reserves in case of extend the drought but some analysts say egypt is mainly flexing its muscles to underscore its power in the region its not technically. How many. Countries i think showing. Up in the depression or. But. It is the good guys who have to do this dont have the will to see that its going to have to get down to. If there is a significant hub they would not even get to do it to do with us with almost 50 percent of the europeans still living without electricity the government is keen to have the dam operating at full capacity as soon as possible the 1st turbines are due to be operational by mid 2021 so if you o. P. s Prime Minister has also africas president settled on a poster to intervene even though egypt had earlier washington to mediate on the match up Foreign Ministers from the 2 Countries Press a done a meeting in the u. S. Capitol today so why did i ask sort of to get involved as a 2nd negotiator. Always believes and when we approach which is. Egypt in the sudan we will follow the same truck in the credit for president was a. Good friend for was ethiopia and egypt also was interning a chair he can. Make a discussion between both parties sauce to solve the issue peacefully right my guest today is timothy called us hes an on resident fellow at the Tata Institute for middle east policy he joins us now from cairo welcome to day africa lets start off with what is at the heart of this disagreement over the stab. The most pressing issue is the period of time that ethiopia will use to fill the reservoir behind the dam the faster they fill it the less water will flow out of us downstream to sudan and egypt and so egypt onset period as long as possible to allow for water to reach it right so we now know that ethiopias Prime Minister went ahead and asa that this president to negotiate this while washington is also mediating talks between the panes which also includes sadat my question so you say is it does president asked not mr they think that much will come out of that the mediation by washington why go ahead and honest so that this president also come in and mediate i think i think both egypt and ethiopia are looking for leverage when they dont have any directly over one another and so the hope that perhaps Prime Minister ahmed spoke is that the South African president can help. Increase ethiopia standing in the talks while of course cairo has a longstanding relationship with the americans and so theyre hoping that the americans will help them achieve more preferable compromise in the final agreement right now the washington told ongoing what can we expect from that well theyre scheduled to have to resolve everything in these talks by january 15th by wednesday if they fail to do so then they would have to move to arbitration based on the existing agreements between the 3 countries currently the rhetoric between ethiopia and egypt doesnt bode well the ethiopians have accused the egyptians of refusing to put forward a more reasonable timeline claiming that they wanted 12 to 21 years whereas the egyptians have dismissed and said that ethiopias being dishonest and that they propose something. Briefer as a little a 6 to 7 years the pentagon grateful. We have a prime. Minister at the aft may have say that hes ready to go to war over this stab could could could this situation escalates to that point where theres a war between these 2 countries if theyre not able to reach some kind of a settlement of a compromise over the the issues affecting the stat to clarify Prime Minister ahmed said that if war came hed be ready as opposed to hed be ready to wage war himself it came after some more bellicose language was being used in some of gyptian press. In september the fact in a matter is while a very unlikely scenario if there is no resolution in egypt as they do that if one of its most vital resources water is under threat its not beyond the realm of possibility they could consider a military option though that seems very distant one im confident theyre trying to avoid that. But its something that certainly is on the back of peoples minds but where do you see things going youve been looking at this met a close me up and reading your twitter feed youve got lots to say about the issue where do you see things going with with the mediation of washington and now the South African president who i understand will be axing it hes capacity as African Union chair. Well my hope is for them to find a timeline and is responsive to changes and rainfall depending on the situation is and allows for the damn to be filled in as timely fashion a possible without damaging egypts arable land i think part of the problem is that its not just the water reaching a egypt during the filth their it but if there is a significant decrease that is not that it also could permanently damage a lot of the land as its not absorbing enough water to maintain its fertility and thats awfully concerned on the part of the egyptians hopefully the the mediate party such the United States in the world back which is observing can provide some sort of support to ethiopia that off 6 the cost of doc to lay such as support infrastructure further on earth for the export of electricity which is part of the planned and thats quite caught costly infrastructure in ethiopia currently has expended a lot of its its wealth in its Capital Building the stand all rights has had the public he directly to that 10 of a cow this thank you now horn of africa is carrying fee suffering its west infestation off a look us to in decades the in sates posed a major threat to fit security and the u. N. And National Governments in the region a warning that the pub and could get much wists as the paying progresses clouds of locusts warm across the countryside the veracious insects consume plants in their path whether grazing land or crops thats a serious danger for the harvest. The innovation and potential to spread. To other counties force unprecedented that it to food security. In the country. The swarms have been coming to kenya for 2 weeks now local people have taken to Desperate Measures firing guns and even tear gas the un sounded the alarm for somalia and ethiopia in december now the swarms are threatening the entire region the f a o recommends pesticide spraying is the only effective control option but thats impossible in somalia because of the security situation can you say is a regional strategy is essential. Unfortunately because of security in some countries it has been difficult to fight and. Across the border in uganda the government also issued a sobering warning. Its. Been seen in the last of indias. Just. The. Region. A single locus one can destroy crops that could treat 2 not half 1000 people for a year meanwhile more insects are already hot ching on both sides of the red sea. And that is it for now from africa you can catch all our stories on our website and Facebook Page 23 now with some more pictures of these hungry in states well see you next time its 5 an hour. To. Kick off. The big Midterm Review hard to. This time on the record holders and their selfproclaimed challengers. Fire new endorsement. Of the team has lived up to their expectations what are they doing wrong and whats left for these 2 giants of the industry guys. To go 60 minutes on g. W. Im not laughing at the germans but sometimes i am but most end up in with the. Dont think i think into the german culture of. Mutants when take this grandma there you go to fold out there no time rachel join me for me to get funky dont post modern. Environmental activists take to the streets after seaman thought joe kayser says he wont be pulling his company as of a controversial mining project in australia. Told so coming up boeing gets a new c. E. O. But will he be able to turn the fortunes of the crisis his company arrives. On shontayne lover of being aware and you tire of could mean 14 hours and a whole lot more for a bottle of french wine. This is your business im paid for it and welcome