Falling as a gentle rain in the mountains of Gojjam, the lifeblood of nations begins. Trickling down the slopes, the runoff forms creeks, and the creeks feed waterways such as the Lesser Abay River. These rivers run across the plains and waterfalls of Ethiopia to fill the country’s largest body of water, Lake Tana. And from this lake flows the Blue Nile, the primary source of the mighty Nile River.

Those formative raindrops travel more than 5,000 miles until they reach the Mediterranean Sea.

But along the way, they now face a new obstacle, one that affects those who live along the Nile, and those who live far from it.

Controversial Construction

Now rising up in the path of the Blue Nile is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (gerd). Many Ethiopians say this vast project is the solution to the country’s energy crisis. But downstream, Egypt’s 94 million residents live almost exclusively along the Nile. And the Egyptians consider the dam a threat. As the Trumpet wrote in 2012, “The power to shut down the Nile—even temporarily—is the power to destroy Egypt.”

Ethiopia has staunchly defended the project, attempting to dismiss Egypt’s fears. But with the dam now 70 percent completed, cracks in Ethiopia’s arguments are forming. Egyptians think this confirms their skepticism, and relations between Egypt and Ethiopia are showing major signs of stress.

How does this affect you? Both of these nations are located beside some of the world’s most important maritime choke points, which could easily shut off seaborne trade in the event of an open conflict. Large portions of oil and commerce traverse the Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal. Millions of barrels of oil and millions of tons of other goods are the fuel that keep nations running, particularly in Europe.

But even more importantly, the dam could play into a soon-coming Islamic alliance in the Middle East that the Trumpet has warned about for more than a decade. And that alliance will affect the entire world. For that reason, fissures in Ethiopian-Egyptian relations are no small matter.

Upsetting Egypt

On January 31, International Rivers released a condemning article titled “Five Myths Surrounding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.” International Rivers is a nonprofit, nongovernmental environmental and human rights organization in Berkeley, California. The organization says it purpose is to protect rivers and the rights of the people who rely upon them. The report stated that the dam will not solve Ethiopia’s energy problems; Ethiopians will not benefit from buying bonds to finance it, and Ethiopia will go into debt; the dam will not increase access to electricity; its environmental effects are negative; and Sudan and Egypt will not benefit from its existence.

Downstream from the dam, Sudan could suffer not only from lack of water, but from lack of dirt. The nation relies on sediment washed down from Ethiopia to nourish its soil. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will inhibit much of that.

But Egypt is the one to watch. Egyptians use 97 percent of the Nile water that reaches their nation. According to the Wall Street Journal, 60 percent of the Nile comes from the Blue Nile. Cutting that flow, even temporarily, would cause terrible damage to Egypt. To fill gerd’s reservoir will take an estimated five to seven years. International Rivers stated, “Ethiopia’s decision to build the gerd threatens Egypt’s water resources by increasing the possibility of food and water shortages, as well as public health risks.”

Given the projected loss of water to evaporation, the severe downstream impacts of the dam and the fact that Ethiopia has never made the Environmental Impact Assessment for the project publicly available, the government of Ethiopia has clearly not fulfilled its obligation to take all appropriate measures to prevent significant harm from the gerd to downstream countries (ibid.).

More than 3,500 miles downstream from the construction site, what is going through the minds of Egypt’s leaders in Cairo? Ethiopia is constructing a 574-foot high valve—one that it can leave open, or shut off. Already 28 percent of Egyptians live in poverty. The World Food Program estimates that 16 percent of Egyptians have poor access to food; in upper Egypt, the figure is 39 percent. Egypt is already the world’s largest importer of wheat. Should Ethiopia choose to shut off the valve, Egypt will be devastated.

This means Cairo has plenty of motivation to take action, radical action, if neccessary.

Threats

In November 2012, Wikileaks published e-mails hacked from Stratfor. One dispatch written in May 2010 during the regime of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak cited an agreement between Egypt and Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir. The deal was to build a small air base in Kusti to “accommodate Egyptian commandos who might be sent to Ethiopia to destroy water facilities on the Blue Nile.”

Mubarak was overthrown in 2011 by Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi secretly filmed and aired on live television a meeting with top generals, in which the generals discussed options for sabotaging or destroying the dam.

Ever since gerd was proposed, military action has been on the table for Egypt. Perhaps one of the main reasons the dispute has not escalated into an international conflict is the fact that Egypt and Sudan have undergone major political and social instability over the past decade.

A Long-Forecast Result

What is ahead for this African dispute? Will Ethiopia and Egypt clash until one side wins the dispute? The answer may surprise you.

The relationship that is about to form between Egypt and Ethiopia in the next few years was forecast long before the first engineer sketched out the first blueprint for the dam.

In fact, these two nations will soon be in an alliance.

That forecast comes from a source as ancient as Ethiopia and Egypt themselves: the Holy Bible. Daniel 11:43 describes a conflict between two world powers, a king from the north who overwhelms a king from the south. The king of the north “shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.”

These prophecies were not for kingdoms in Daniel’s lifetime; Daniel himself did not understand them. He asked what they meant, and the response he received is revealing: “Go thy way Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Daniel 12:9). Putting this scripture together with others that mention this “time of the end” time frame shows that this prophecy is for our lifetime.

To identity the king of the south, request Gerald Flurry’s free booklet, The King of the South, first published in 1993. In it, the Trumpet editor in chief discussed how radical Islam led by Iran would fill the role of the king of the south, and Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia would ally with Iran.

In the early 90s and for decades since, many have been skeptical at this forecast. But look at Libya today: It is a wildly unstable nation vulnerable to just such an outcome. Look at Egypt: Although Morsi has been deposed, it is remarkable at how rapidly he and the Muslim Brotherhood radicalized Egypt’s leadership. That potential remains today. Meanwhile, Iran has capitalized on the Arab Spring and other trends and has spread radical Islam right up to Ethiopia’s borders!

In the April 2011 issue of the Trumpet, Mr. Flurry prophesied specifically that Libya and Ethiopia would become beholden to radical Islam. At the time, there was very little geopolitical evidence to suggest that either nation could become part of a radical jihadist alliance. But he made that prediction based on Daniel 11:43. “This verse states that Libya and Ethiopia are also going to be closely allied with Iran!” he stated.

We do not know the exact details of how this alliance would form. The gerd could certainly play a role. War, regime change or even regional instability could create fertile ground for radicalism and an Islamist revolution. Libya is a prime example of how quickly nations can change. Egypt and Ethiopia ought to take note!

How this alliance will happen we don’t know—but we do know the outcome, no matter what current events indicate. Just like rain on the mountains can eventually become the Nile River, so too can a seemingly small occurrence—disputes over a dam, the fall of a leader, a drought or a famine—lead to the onrushing fulfillment of a major Bible prophecy.

The Trumpet concluded its 2012 article “War Over the Nile” by stating, “The Bible says Egypt will soon be instrumental in bringing a radical political reorientation to Ethiopia. Watch while it happens.”