The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed visitedJohannesburg on Sunday to see fellow Ethiopians living in South Africa. The Ethiopian immigrants were elated and showed excitement as the Prime Minister ensured to protect them from the Afrophobic attacks that broke out in South Africa last year.
This is followed by a state visit he made to President Cyril Ramaphosa asking for his intervention in the Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia dam project on the Nile River. The countries failed to reach an agreement about the way forward in regards to Africa’s largest hydraulic dam.
Ramaphosa is the incoming chairperson of the African Union (AU) and Ahmed came to South Africa asking for Ramaphosa to provide peaceful solutions to all parties involved in the Nile dam project. The countries reached a deadlock as Egypt is worried about Ethiopia using the Nile river to fill the dam project which could result in Egyptians facing shortages of water during droughts.
The three countries will be meeting at Washington this week to discuss and provide solutions for the predicament at hand. During a press conference with President Ramaphosa and Prime Minister Ahmed, Ramaphosa added, “Ethiopia and Egypt need to discuss the current matter at hand and they will be meeting very soon to solve and proceed with the Nile dam project.” The president also assured the prime Minister about the safety of his people.
Yusuf Mohammad who owns a trading store in Rockville,Soweto said, “We are very happy as Ethiopians to see our Prime Minister coming to South Africa for the first time. This is the most important day for us as Ethiopians as we are facing many challenges in South Africa and struggling to get proper documentation to travel to our homeland. We hope he will assist in changing that and solving our problems. We are very happy today”.
