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dam-l Epupa mtg postponed again/LS
>From The Namibian:
July 8, 1999 - Web posted at 10:07 a.m. GMT
Epupa meeting delayed yet again
CHRISTOF MALETSKY
A MEETING between Namibia and Angola on the Epupa hydropower project,
which was scheduled
to start today, has been postponed after officials from Luanda
indicated they could not attend.
The ongoing war in Angola has been blamed for the officials' failure
to arrive for the key two-day
meeting, which is scheduled to discuss crucial differences between
the two countries on the energy
project.
The meeting has already been postponed several times and there are
fears that the Angolan
government is not interested in finalising the project.
It is not clear when the meeting will take place as Luanda has to
indicate which dates are acceptable.
The two countries are at odds over where to build the dam on the
Kunene river. The Angolans
favour a smaller dam in the Baynes Mountains, whereas Namibia wants a
dam in the area of the
Epupa Falls.
Mines and Energy Minister Jesaya Nyamu earlier told The Namibian that
Angolan government
officials have been too preoccupied with the war against Unita to be
able to attend scheduled
meetings of the Permanent Joint Technical Commission (PJTC) on Epupa.
He said President Sam Nujoma and his Angolan counterpart, Jose
Eduardo dos Santos, would only
intervene if the PJTC failed to resolve the dispute on which site
should be used for the scheme.
The PJTC was due to meet in Windhoek this month to make the final
proposal on the site. The two
countries have disagreed about which location should be used for the
billion-dollar scheme since last
year and there is a strong likelihood that the PJTC will remain
deadlocked on the issue.
Angola wants the hydroelectricity project to be built at the Baynes
site, 40km downstream from the
Epupa Falls. The Baynes site is more dependent on the proper
regulation of the Gove dam in
Angola's Central Highlands.
The Angolans want to use the construction of the Epupa project to
help them canvass for funding to
repair Gove which has been damaged in the country's civil war.
Namibia is adamant that the plant should be built at Epupa Falls,
arguing that Baynes is too small,
prone to drought and too dependent on Gove.
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(c) 1999 The Namibian
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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