Ethiopia opened its Gibe III dam in December 2016 in the lower Omo Valley as part of a large project that includes sugar and cotton plantations, as well as dams. Water started collecting in a reservoir behind the dam in 2015, preventing it from flowing downstream to Lake Turkana in neighboring Kenya. Human Rights Watch says little is being done by either government to mitigate the impact and that as the plantations are developed, even more water will be diverted from Turkana, which desperately requires it. “What all the developments have in common is that they use a lot of water,” said Horne. It also says Ethiopia has shown scant regard' for those reliant on the Omo River and Lake Turkana for their livelihoods.

Source: Ethiopian News February 14, 2017 20:17 UTC