The Ethiopia-Djibouti water pipeline: South-South cooperation?

The Forum On China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is ending today in Dakar. On its webpage, the FOCAC brands itself as a space for equality, sharing, and for South-South cooperation. I take my cue from this forum and explore in this post the impacts of the Belt & Road Initiative on African water infrastructure. 

The Belt & Road Initiative (BRI)

For those not familiar with the concept, the BRI was introduced eight years ago by Chinese president Xi Jinping. Although the BRI’s emphasis is now shifting to include renewable schemes, it initially aims to build a maritime silk road and a terrestrial infrastructure belt – hence its name – to allow for better commercial communications across the world. To realise these trade routes, China and Chinese banks invest massively in infrastructure projects all over the world. The BRI is however a loose term that refers more to a broad narrative around which a plurality of projects are developed than to a single consistent endeavour. The BRI is portrayed by Chinese actors as an apolitical South-South cooperation scheme that aims to overcome historically exploitative relationships and achieve mutual prosperity.

In what follows, I explore the BRI narrative through a case study and assess the extent to which “South-South cooperation” characterises well the initiative.  

 

The Ethiopia-Djibouti water pipeline

Djibouti's flag

The Ethiopia-Djibouti water pipeline, or Ethiopia-Djibouti water project, refers to water wells, reservoirs, and a 102-kilometre water pipeline that were constructed between 2015 and 2017 to provide Djibouti, a small country in the horn of Africa known for its water crises, with drinking water. The pipeline connects Adagalla in Ethiopia to the capital city Djibouti, while also providing water to other towns in the Republic of Djibouti on its way. Its capacity reaches 100,000 cubic metres of water daily; drinking water is thus provided to over 700,000 people in Djibouti. Funding for the project came from the Export-Import Bank of China through a $322 million loan.

Towns served by the pipeline. Source: Open Street Map.

One can, and should, however have a more careful look at the politics behind this seemingly successful infrastructure project. Accessing reliable sources about the Ethiopia-Djibouti water pipeline was however challenging; academic literature is more interested in the train line or oil pipeline in which China is equally involved. Therefore, rather than making statements about the Ethiopia-Djibouti water project, I want to raise a set of questions to help think critically about it.

Creating dependence

Is a 102 km pipeline the most efficient way to provide Djibouti with fresh, drinking water? It does not seem to be an optimal solution, for rather than enhancing Djibouti’s resilience, it increases its dependence on Ethiopia. Could one have considered more local solutions instead? By focussing on groundwater for example; or by exploiting the full potential of virtual water?

Decision making and knowledge

Who decided that a pipeline would be the best solution to Djibouti’s water crisis? Whose knowledge was taken into account? Huge infrastructure projects of this kind of are rarely bottom up.

The power of money

How did financial assets play in the choice of the project? Did local Djibouti inhabitants who would benefit from the water project have a say in its development and implementation? Or rather was the Export-Import Bank of China unevenly powerful, in a way that allowed it to put its financial benefits before those of the local population?

The debt cycle

To what extent can a loan be considered part of a development project? Loans have received significant criticism in the South American debt crisis. Knowing that the majority of Djibouti’s public debt isowed to China, are Chinese loans any better – both in their intentions and consequences – than the hotly contested World Bank ones in the 1970s and 80s? 

Construction and working conditions

Finally, who was employed to do the pipeline’s construction work, and what were the working conditions? Chinese companies in Africa have often been criticised for employing imported skilled labour, and imposing harsh working conditions (sometimes even compared to slavery) on unqualified local workforce.


The pipeline's construction. Source: China Central Television.

 

Only after having replied to these questions can one determine whether the Ethiopia-Djibouti water pipeline is an example of South-South cooperation, or whether on the contrary it is a form of neo-colonialism. It is also interesting to watch this video by China Central Television in light of the above questions.


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