Decoding the Egypt-Ethiopia-Somaliland Conflict & Gaza’s Human Toll | Media Arabic Booster 01/24

January 2024 saw regional tensions rise while the human cost of ongoing conflicts became ever clearer.

In this Media Arabic Booster, we’ll examine these two fronts.

First, we’ll look at how Tunisian media expressed solidarity with Al-Jazeera journalist Wael al-Dahdouh after the immense personal losses he suffered in Gaza.

Then, we dive into a complex geopolitical analysis from Al Modon about the escalating conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Nile, a dispute now inflamed by Ethiopia’s new naval base deal with Somaliland.

This post will give you the Arabic vocabulary to discuss everything from diplomatic maneuvering to personal perseverance.

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A close look at a headline

Headlines in Arabic media are generally easy to understand – but there are also some tricky words.

al-Quds: Responding to the tragedy of al-Jazeera journalist Wael al-Dahdouh

I switch daily between Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera news channels and appreciate their live coverage and 24-hour documentation of events (live channels – مُباشِرٌ). Even if many of their reports include emotions and personal influences and views, it’s mostly live and unfiltered.

One face I have seen for years on TV is that of Wael Dahdouh (وائل الدحدوح), Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief. He has been working what feels like 24 hours a day since October 7. A good part of his family has been killed in Israeli attacks:

• His wife, 7-year-old daughter, and 15-year-old son were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp (مخيّم النصيرات) on October 28, 2023, along with 8 of his other relatives.
• On December 15, 2023, while covering the airstrike on the Haifa school in Khan Yunis (خان يونس), al-Dahdouh and his colleague cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa (سامر أبو دقة) were hit by an Israeli missile, injuring Dahdouh and killing Abu Daqqa.
• His son, journalist Hamza al-Dahdouh (حمزة الدحدوح), was killed in an Israeli attack on Khan Younis on January 7, 2024, and 2 of his nephews were killed the following day.

It is not surprising that such a tragedy and the amount of pain a person has to deal with is a touching, sad, and at the same time infuriating topic in the Arab world, as many people are familiar with the face of Wael Dahdouh. Several newspapers, especially the paper Al-Quds (جريدة القدس; mainly financed by Qataris) published several pages following the death of Al-Dahdouh’s son. Obituaries were also printed on the front page.

Let us focus on the headline of an article published in Al-Quds on January 8, 2024, on page 9:

سِياسِيُّونَ وَنُشَطاءُ تُونِسِيُّونَ يَتَضامَنُونَ مَعَ الإِعْلامِيِّ وائِل الدَّحْدُوح..
وَنَقِيبُ الصَحافِيِّينَ السابِقِ: رَمْزٌ لِصُمُودِ أَهالِي غَزَّةَ

Let us first check the vocabulary. In this headline, we have many words that can be used as both an adjective and a noun!

ARABIC	EXPLANATION
سِياسيٌّ	political; politician
نَشِيطٌ – نُشَطاءُ	active; activist. For example: human rights activist (نُشَطاءُ حُقُوقِ الْإنْسانِ). There is also a rare plural form, which is نِشاط
تَضامَنَ – يَتَضامَنُ مع	to be solidary with; to stick together; to be in accord; to have mutual responsibility. It is a VI-verb (تَفاعَلَ), thus, we already have a hint that a mutual aspect is at play. The infinitive noun (مصدر) is تَضامُنٌ usually denotes solidarity. For example: to declare one’s solidarity with (أَعْلَنَ التَّضامُنَ مَعَ).
إعْلامِيٌّ	informative/media; media personality
نَقِيبٌ	union leader (in this context since we talk about Tunisia where unions are strong); it can also mean captain (in the military) and, more generally, leader, chief, head.
صَحافِيٌّ or صُحُفِيٌّ	journalist
سابِقٌ	former, ex-; past; preceding
صُمُودٌ	perseverance; persistence; endurance
أَهْلٌ – أَهالٍ	people (in this context and usually when used in the plural); family. For example: the People of the Book = Christians and Jews (أَهْل الكِتابِ); the local people (أَهالي البَلَدةِ)

Now, let’s translate the entire headline:

سياسيون ونشطاء تونسيون يتضامنون مع الإعلامي وائل الدحدوح.. ونقيب الصحافيين السابق: رمز لصمود أهالي غزة

Tunisian politicians and activists show solidarity with the journalist Wael al-Dahdouh…
Former journalists’ union president: A symbol of the steadfastness of Gaza residents

Note: If you are interested, you can read the entire article on the al-Quds website (link).

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Sky News Arabia: the snowball method

I grew up in the mountains of Austria, where winters were long, with lots of snow from November to May. Sometimes we got half a meter overnight. We had snowball fights every day.

In German, there is the beautiful word Dachlawinengefahr (= danger of a mass of snow sliding off the roof). I still remember well how I once tried to translate this word into Arabic in such a way that people who may never have seen snow before can understand what it means and how dangerous a Dachlawine can actually be. In Arabic, you need a sentence for this.

Arabic has countless words related to the desert. But when something is related to snow, the language, which is otherwise often praised for its richness, becomes speechless. Words associated with snow quickly seem artificially constructed. Anyway, how often do you hear the word “snowball” in everyday Arabic life?

This is why I was surprised to see the word snowball in the business section of Sky News Arabia (full text here) sometime in January. Note that the text was also printed in the newspaper al-Quds (see facsimile).

الدُّيُونُ.. ما هِيَ خُطَّةُ كُرَةِ الثَّلْجِ الَّتِي يُنْصَحُ بِالْاِعْتِمادِ عَلَيْها؟

What does this mean?

Let’s first translate all the important words:

ARABIC	EXPLANATION
دَيْنٌ – دُيُونٌ	debt. For example: national debt (دَيْنُ الدَّوْلةِ). Notice the pronunciaton “dain”. The word for religion looks the same, but is pronounced with “i” – “deen”: دِينٌ (plural: أَدْيان)
خُطّةٌ – خُطَطٌ	plan. In politics you often hear the phrase five-year plan. In Arabic, this can be difficult to understand because in Arabic, this is often expressed without mentioning the word year: خُطَّةٌ خَمْسِيَّةٌ
كُرةٌ – كُرىً	ball, globe. The word is generally used for ball/round things. For example: soccer/football (كُرَةُ الْقَدَمِ); tennis (كُرَةُ الْمِضْرَبِ or justتِنِس). Note that مِضْرَب means bat; racket.
ثَلْجٌ – ثُلُوجٌ	snow. Arabic does not really have words for different kinds of snow like German or English. By putting together ball and snow, we get the word for snowball: كُرةُ ثَلْجٍ. When we talk about the weather, we use the construction “it is… snowing”. How do we say that in Arabic? We need a different construction. We do need a noun as a subject. So, it is snowing can be expressed by تُثْلِجُ السَّماءُ. It is like in Egyptian Arabic – it’s raining is el-dunya betishti (الدنيا بتشتي).
نَصَحَ – يَنْصَحُ لِ بِ	to advise/counsel someone (لِ) to do something (بِ).
اعْتَمَدَ – يَعْتَمِدُ عَلَى	to rely on; to trust in. The infinitive noun (مصدر) of this VIII-verb is اِعْتِمادٌ

Now that we have all the ingredients, let us translate the headline:

To be honest, I had never heard about the “snowball plan” in relation to debts. So I had to google it.

So if the term snowball is now used as a metaphor in Arabic, what about the snowball effect?

I browsed through a few translations and actually came across a literal translation: تَأْثِيرُ كُرَةِ الثَلْجِ

But perhaps a clearer and somewhat more general translation would be better because I also found this: أَثَرٌ تَراكُمِيٍّ. The word تَراكُمِيٌّ means cumulative; accumulated.

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Translation of an article

To really get to the core of Arabic newspapers and magazines, you have to know a bunch of words. Plus, the way they phrase things and put sentences together can sometimes be a real challenge. That’s why I’m all about translating whole sentences, so you can gain more confidence and speed up your Arabic skills.

The words marked in yellow can be found further down in the vocabulary list.

Opinion piece in Al Modon: “From the Renaissance Dam to the Somaliland” – Egypt, Ethiopia and the role of Somaliland

Water rights to the Nile River are a critical concern for Egypt. With Ethiopia building a large dam, called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Tālāqu ye-Ītyōppyā Hidāsē Gidib – ታላቁ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዳሴ ግድብ – in Arabic: سَدُّ النَّهْضَةِ الْإِثْيُوبِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ), the situation has become more complex and urgent for Egypt. This new dam has the potential to affect the flow of water that Egypt relies on.

The dam they are planning to build will be the biggest source of hydroelectric power in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. It will be able to produce 5.15 gigawatts of electricity. To help you understand how much power that is, consider the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine, which is the biggest in Europe. It can generate a bit more power at 5.7 gigawatts.

On February 20, 2022, the dam produced electricity for the first time (capacity 375 MW). Thus far, Egypt has not felt any negative impact. But what will happen when all turbines are installed and operational?

People have been talking about the possibility of war for some time. Experts used to think that Egypt’s rulers could not launch an attack on places far away because Egypt didn’t have planes that could refuel their fighter jets mid-flight. But is this still the case? The country of Sudan is immense, and it’s located right next to Egypt, making it a difficult area to cross without stopping. But now, with the turmoil in Sudan and both major players in the region, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are trying to build new alliances.

The situation might get more complex as Shady Lewis writes in the Lebanese online newspaper Al Modon (المدن) on January 24, 2024. Founded in 2005, Al Modon is published in Arabic and covers local and international news. The paper describes itself as “independent and progressive”.

Shady Lewis Botros (شادي لويس) is an Egyptian journalist and writer. A Coptic Christian, he was born in Cairo in 1978 and has lived in London for many years. He is known for his political activism in the Kefaya opposition movement against former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. Today, he writes for various Arabic newspapers such as Al-Modon, Mada Masr, and Al-Quds Al-Arabi, to name a few.

Let’s focus on certain parts of the text and translate each sentence carefully.

من سد النهضة إلى أرض الصومال

From the Renaissance Dam to Somaliland

بعد أكثر من عقد من الجولات الدبلوماسية وتجدد للحرب الكلامية كل حين وآخر، وصل الخلاف حول سد النهضة بين القاهرة وأديس أبابا إلى طريق مسدود. قطعت أعمال إنشاءات جسم السد ومراحل ملء خزاناته، خطوات واسعة، من دون الوصول إلى اتفاق ملزم بين دول الحوض ينظم إدارة مياه النيل، بما يضمن حصص دول المصب.

After more than a decade of diplomatic rounds and the renewed war of words every now and then, the dispute over the El-Nahda Dam between Cairo and Addis Ababa has reached a dead end. The construction works (of the body of the dam) and filling of the dam’s reservoirs have crossed many steps (have taken great strides, have made significant progress), without reaching a binding agreement between the basin’s countries to manage the water of the Nile in a way that secures the quotas of the downstream countries.

جاء إعلان القاهرة الشهر الماضي عن انتهاء مسار المفاوضات، والاكتفاء بـ”المراقبة عن كثب” لملء وتشغيل السد مع الاحتفاظ بـ”حق الدفاع عن أمنها المائي والقومي في حال تعرضه للضرر“، بمثابة بيان استسلام للأمر الواقع، وترحيل المواجهة إلى المستقبل.

Cairo gave a statement last month about the conclusion/end of the negotiations and that it will merely be “closely monitoring” the filling and operation of the dam while “preserving the right to defend its water and national security in the event it suffers any damages.” The statement demonstrated Cairo’s surrendering to the fait accompli and a way to postpone the confrontation to the future.

فالأمطار الغزيرة خلال المواسم الماضية، سمحت بتتميم عمليات ملء السد من دون تأثير ملموس في حصة مصر المائية، لتبقى المشكلات مؤجلة حتى مواسم الجفاف المحتملة مستقبليًا، وتظل المعضلة الأكبر أن أثيوبيا بادرت إلى خرق الاتفاقات القائمة لإدارة نهر النيل وتوزيع حصصه، والإقدام على ذلك من طرف واحد، وهو ما يمهد الطريق لتكرار الأمر، سواء من جهة أديس أبابا أو غيرها من دول المنبع.

The heavy rains in the past seasons allowed for completing the filling of the dam without a tangible effect on Egypt’s water share. Thus, the problems have been delayed until the potential dry seasons in the future. The main problem is that Ethiopia took the initiative to violate the (existing) agreements to manage the water of the Nile and the distribution of the quotas, and the recklessness of doing that unilaterally is it that paves the way for repeating the same thing/issue whether by Addis Ababa or other upstream countries.

الخسارة المصرية، أو ما يمكن اعتباره تعليقًا لا يصب في مصلحة القاهرة، لم تكن نتيجة بعيدة من الاستشراف مسبقًا. ففي ظل غياب حسن النوايا من الجهة الأثيوبية، لم تمتلك القاهرة أدوات للضغط أو للتفاوض أو الترغيب، بل وبداية انطلقت من أرضية ضعف، بحكم موقعها الجغرافي كبلد المصب. كان لجوء الحكومة المصرية لإشراك الولايات المتحدة في جهود الضغط الدبلوماسي على إثيوبيا – وهي الورقة المصرية الأكبر- بلا جدوى تذكر… أخيرًا، جاء اندلاع الحرب الأهلية في السودان، تحطيمًا لأي آمال في شراكة بين القاهرة والخرطوم في مواجهة أديس أبابا ….

The Egyptian loss or the situation that didn’t serve Cairo’s interests was not a hard-to-predict. In the absence of good intentions on the Ethiopian side, Cairo possessed no pressuring or negotiation tools or tools to arouse interest. Rather, it started from a weak ground, by virtue of its geographical location as a downstream country. The Egyptian government resorted to the loop of the USA in its efforts to exert diplomatic pressure on Ethiopia. This was the main Egyptian card, but it had a negligible result. Finally, the outbreak of civil war in Sudan came, destroying any hopes for a partnership between Cairo and Khartoum confronting Addis Ababa (…)

نهاية الأسبوع الماضي، عادت الحرب الكلامية بين مصر وإثيوبيا، بعد توقيع الأخيرة مذكرة تفاهم مع حكومة أرض الصومال غير المعترف بها دوليًا، تسمح لإثيوبيا، وهي الدولة الحبيسة بإقامة قاعدة بحرية عسكرية ومرفأ تجاري وحق استخدام واجهة بحرية بطول 20 كيلومترًا على الساحل الصومالي لمدة 50 عامًا. واستدعى الاتفاق المبدئي إدانة جماعية، شملت الولايات المتحدة والاتحاد الأوروبي والصين والجامعة العربية، إنما كان رد الفعل المصري الأعلى صوتًا والأكثر خشونة، إذ جاء مشفوعًا بتهديد التدخل العسكري.

Last weekend, the verbal war between Egypt and Ethiopia returned when the latter signed a memorandum of understanding with the internationally unrecognized government of Somaliland, allowing Ethiopia, a country with no maritime outlets, to establish a naval base and a commercial port in addition to the right to use a 20-kilometer-long seafront on the Somalian coast for 50 years. The initial agreement called for collective condemnation, including the United States, the European Union, China, and the Arab League. However, the Egyptian reaction was the loudest and most harsh, as it came with the threat of military intervention.

“محدش يجرب مصر”، حذّر الرئيس السيسي في كلمة له من مغبة “المساس بسيادة الصومال أو وحدة أراضيه”، واستدعى بشكل ضمني اتفاقية الدفاع المشترك العربية، مع إعلان نية التدخل إذا طلبت حكومة الصومال ذلك.

“No one must test Egypt,” warned President el-Sisi as he gave a speech about the threats of “undermining Somalia’s sovereignty or territorial integrity”, and implicitly invoked the Arab Joint Defense Agreement, declaring his intention to intervene if the Somali government requests it.

الموقف المصري المتشدد معني بمواجهة إثيوبيا، لمعادلة الكفة معها في معادلة المصالح والضغوط. فمنذ سنوات، تمارس حكومة أرض الصومال أعمال السيادة، بما فيها توقيع الاتفاقيات مع دول أخرى ومؤسسات غير حكومية، ولم تستدع أي من المعاهدات السابقة رد فعل مصري بمثل هذه الخشونة. فهل يجب التعامل مع الموقف المصري بجدية؟ أم اعتباره مناورة كلامية مثل التصريحات السابقة؟

The Egyptian firm position mainly aimed at confronting Ethiopia, to level the balance in terms of interests and pressures. For years, the government of Somaliland has been exercising acts of sovereignty, including signing agreements with other countries and non-governmental organizations, but none of the earlier treaties called for an Egyptian reaction of such harshness. So, should the Egyptian position be taken seriously? Or should it be considered a verbal maneuver like previous statements?

عمليًا، يصعب على القاهرة الغارقة في أزمتها المالية الكبيرة، تمويل حرب في أعالي البحار. ولا تبدو الإدارة المصرية في وضع تُحسد عليه، فيما تدور ثلاث حروب على حدودها البرية، في غزة وليبيا والسودان، وبشكل أو بآخر هي طرف في الحروب الثلاث. وبحسب معيار الأولوية، سيكون من غير الحكمة فتح جبهة إضافية وبعيدة.

In practice, it is difficult for Cairo, which is mired in its major financial crisis, to finance a war on the high seas. The Egyptian administration does not seem to be in an enviable position, as three wars are raging on its land borders, in Gaza, Libya, and Sudan, and in one way or another it is a party to the three wars. According to the criterion of priority, it would be unwise to open an additional and distant front.

الواقع أن القاهرة، وبالتوازي مع تصريحاتها الحادة تجاه إثيوبيا، أصدرت في الأسبوع نفسه تهديدات نادرة تجاه تل أبيب، ملوحة بتبعات خطيرة حال مبادرة إسرائيل إلى تغيير الوضع القائم على محور فيلادلفيا. ولعل الفوضى الشديدة التي ضربت المنطقة من الجهات كافة، دفعت القاهرة نحو اتخاذ مواقف أكثر صرامة، ومن بينها البحث عن موطئ قدم في القرن الأفريقي في ظل اضطراب الملاحة في البحر الأحمر، والذي يتضرر منه الاقتصاد المصري أكبر الضرر.

In fact, in parallel with its sharp statements towards Ethiopia, Cairo also voiced some rare threats towards Tel Aviv in the same week, hinting at serious consequences if Israel were to change the status quo on the Philadelphia axis (see box below). Perhaps the severe chaos that struck the region from all sides pushed Cairo towards taking tougher positions, including searching for a foothold in the Horn of Africa amid the disruption of maritime transportation in the Red Sea, which is causing the Egyptian economy the greatest harm.

في حال كانت التصريحات المصرية تجاه مسألة أرض الصومال غير جادة أو مفتقدة لموارد تنفيذها- وهو الأرجح– فإن النتيجة الوحيدة لها ستكون تدهور علاقة سيئة بالأساس مع الجار الإثيوبي البعيد، (…)

If the Egyptian statement concerning the issue with Somaliland is not serious or if Egypt lacks the needed resources to carry them out – which is very likely – the only outcome shall consist of a further deterioration of the already bad relations with the distant Ethiopian neighbor…

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Vocabulary list

All the words in the above article marked in yellow can be found in this table with explanations.

Footnotes:

1. Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLB69330/ ↩︎
2. Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/fighting-between-israeli-forces-hamas-rages-after-nearly-200-killed-gaza-2023-12-30/ ↩︎

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Drißner, G. (2024, January 31). Decoding the Egypt-Ethiopia-Somaliland Conflict & Gaza’s Human Toll | Media Arabic Booster 01/24. Arabic for Nerds. https://arabic-for-nerds.com/learners-corner/media-arabic-booster/media-arabic-booster-01-24/

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Published: January 31, 2024

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Publication ISSN: 3055-1730