Ethiopia and Kenya have one thing in common: they both produce world-class long-distance athletes.

But aside from the athletics track, the two Eastern Africa countries, which border each other, also share the dilemma of power shortage even as they take baby-steps toward the industrialized status.

It is this focus on power-driven economic growth that threatens what has until now been cordial bilateral relations between Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Government is building a dam on the Omo River. Once completed, the Gibe III Dam would be the largest hydroelectric plant in Africa. It is Ethiopia's water resource and the country has every right to use it.

But, because of the environmental damage likely to take place if the Omo is dammed and because its flow to Lake Turkana, a water body that sits astride the Kenya-Ethiopia border, may decrease drastically, the global watchdog on culture and heritage has told the Ethiopian Government to put the brakes on the project that is said to be halfway complete.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has warned Ethiopia to carry out a thorough study on the environmental impact before continuing with the project. Kenya's parliament passed a resolution in August asking Ethiopia to put the project on hold until the environmental impact assessment is supplied.

Water supply threatened

The cause for alarm from both UNESCO and Ethiopia is grave. The Omo supplies about 90 percent of the water in Lake Turkana. If the dam is built, it may affect the water flow and as a result, the lake's depth could reduce by up to 10 meters. According to statistics tabled in Kenya's parliament, there are about 300,000 people who depend on the lake for their livelihood.

"The lake's salinity will increase, making the lake water undrinkable. The increase in salinity is also likely to impact negatively on the biodiversity – the animal and plant life – and this is going to cause a big problem," said Dr. Wilberforce Otichilo, a natural resource management expert and a sitting member of parliament in Kenya.

According to Dr. Otichilo, about 100,000 indigenous farmers living in the lower Omo Valley in Ethiopia will lose their livelihood, particularly through crop failure, because the annual Omo River flooding [pattern] will be altered. An additional 100,000 people will lose their grazing land. This is already happening.

"There will be reduction of fertile land, which will increase tension and conflicts among communities, threatening years of progress in peace building efforts. This is already happening. We already have a lot of conflicts between the two communities living in that area," Otichilo said as he rallied his colleagues to push Kenya's coalition government to urge Ethiopia to iron out the pertinent issues.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in a BBC interview that the overall environmental impact of the project is highly beneficial and it increases the amount of water in the river system, regulates flooding and improves the livelihood of people downstream.

Ethiopia needs power. With a projected power output of 1,870 MW, the Gibe III Dam's output will more than double the total installed capacity in Ethiopia from its 2007 level of 814 MW, boosting industry and the economy.

Ethiopia's neighbors, such as Djibouti, Kenya, Yemen, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt, would all be in a position to purchase the excess electricity.

The Gibe III Dam would be part of the Gibe cascade, a series of dams including the existing Gibe I and Gibe II dams as well as the planned Gibe IV (1,472 MW) and Gibe V (560 MW) dams. The existing dams are owned and operated by the Ethiopian Electric Power Corp., which is the client for the Gibe III Hydroelectric Dam.