Egypt scrambles to mend relations with Ethiopia over Nile water

The delegation consists three presidential hopefuls and some of the best known Egyptian opposition leaders as well as representatives of young people who toppled president Hosni Mubarak on January 25 in a popular revolution.

Three presidential hopefuls Hamdian Sabhy, Hisham Basetawsi, Bosayna Kamel are among those seeking to convince Ethiopia to consider Egypt’s interest on Nile River.

Mr Mostafa Ahmady, the press attaché of Egyptian Embassy in Addis Ababa told this reporter that the delegation is scheduled to meet Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and other officials as well as religious leaders.

“The mission is to maintain a historical friendship between the two countries despite the recent diplomatic row” Mr Ahmady said.

Egypt fell into a diplomatic trap after Ethiopia announced it would build an ever bigger hydro dam power generation dam with a capacity of 5250 Megawatts at a cost of $5 billion on the Nile River.

Egypt requested for an explanation and documentation of studies on the dam but Ethiopia rejected the request. Egypt is worried about the impact of the dam on its historical water rights but Ethiopia says the dam will not affect the flow of the water.

Traditionally influential power and well-armed Egypt has been forced to retreat from its earlier furious position to one of negotiating on the Nile River issue

The Ethiopian government has welcomed the dialogue but not on the hydro dam project.

source : www.africareview.com

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pictural report

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