Mar 23, 2010, 20:04 GMT
Addis Ababa - International charity Survival International on Tuesday began a campaign to block the construction of a hydroelectric dam on Ethiopia's Omo River, saying it would devastate the lives of 200,000 people.
The massive Gibe III dam is expected to provide 1,800 megawatts of electricity by 2012, which the Ethiopian government says is needed to meet growing power demands.
But Survival International said the dam, which would create a 150-kilometre-long lake, would prevent local tribes from planting their crops in the flood plains.
'The Gibe III dam will be a disaster of cataclysmic proportions for the tribes of the Omo valley,' Survival International's director, Stephen Corry, said. 'Their land and livelihoods will be destroyed, yet few have any idea what lies ahead.'
The Omo River also feeds into Kenya's Lake Turkana, raising fears that water levels could drop and impact the lives of tribes living in the drought-prone area.
The group wants the Ethiopian government to halt the dam and is urging potential international donors, including the Africa Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank and the Italian government not to support the project.
Nobody from the Ethiopian government was available to comment immediately on the campaign, but officials have in the past dismissed concerns over the project.
Power cuts are common in the capital and other towns and cities, while many rural areas are still unconnected to the national grid, meaning demand can only rise.
The dam, which is being built by Italian firm Salini Costruttori, is expected to cost 1.7 billion dollars.
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