Spilling Blood over Water? The Case of Ethiopia 271
water developments are ambitious and rely on technologies that do not ha-
ness local methods or ecological knowledge.
It is clear that variability in water resources will persist in spite of ongoing
and planned water developments. Water management plans must account for
the geographic and social complexity of water and the need for adaptable.
flexible and site-specific strategies. Water must be fairly allocated between
competing uses including hydropower, irrigation, industry and domestic
water supply for small-hold cultivation and the watering of livestock. The
rights and needs of both upstream and downstream users need to be recog-
nised and guaranteed to prevent conflict, which is possible only through
scrupulous and unbiased ground assessments. It is critical to understand the
sources underlying the onset and continuation of conflict. The followin, 0 case
study will explore different layers of conflict in the Awash River Basin.
Case Study 1: the Awash River Basin
Background and Recent Developments
The Awash River Basin is part of the Afar Autonomous Region and is divid-
ed into five zones and 29 weredas. It is located in the north-east part of
Ethiopia bordering Eritrea and Djibouti. The basin covers approximately 70
000 square kiiometres, covering 6% of the total area of Ethi~pia.~~ The Awash
River's catchment area is 112 700 square kii~metres.~~ The basin is divided
into the Upper Valley, which receives medium rainfall and is inhabited by
pastoralists and farmers, and the Middle and Lower Valleys, which receive
low and erratic precipitation and are almost entirely inhabited by pastoral-
ists, with few ago-pastoralists and peasant farmers. Mean annual rainfall
ranges from 160 millimetres over the northern lowland to 1 600 millimetres
at Ankober in the highlands north-east of Addis Ababa.
The area is considered to be one of the poorest, least developed and neg
lected regions of the country.p9 As Bryden argues:
"... at best, the Afar National Regional State ... is poignant testimony to
the emptiness of past commitment, by both governments and aid agen-
cies, to the development of Ethiopia. At wont, the region's historical neg-
lect and relative underdevelopment implies a legacy of imperial exploita-
tion and exclusion from whatever progress other pans of the country
have enjoyed. The vast majority ... have seen virtually no improvement
in living standards for decades, if not centuries. 'Development' when it
has taken place, has usually taken the form of assimilation by the central
Ethiopia state and partial annexation to Ethiopia's highland economy - a
process perceived by many Afar to represent economic and cultural impe
rialism rather than 'progress: Development schemes in the Afar region