Morsi To Speak At National Conference On Ethiopia Dam Row
Published Monday, 10 June 2013 | Written by Amwal Al Ghad
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will give a speech Monday evening on the ongoing row with Ethiopia, which lately started diverting the course of the Blue Nile for its Renaissance Dam project, sources told Ahram Online.
Morsi will deliver his speech in Cairo at a national conference
organised by Islamist parties to discuss recommendations for a response
to Ethiopia's desision to divert the Blue Nile, which many fear could
diminish Egypt's share of potable water.
In a meeting hosted by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice
Party (FJP) last week, Egypt's Islamist parties had called for a new
national conference to discuss responses to the Nile dam crisis.
The move has raised concerns in Egypt and Sudan, both dependent on the world's longest river for vital water needs.
Earlier last week, President Morsi met with a group of political
figures to discuss the report of the international technical committee
tasked with studying the impact of the Ethiopia dam.
The meeting triggered a storm of controversy as various figures
present made open threats against Ethiopia unaware that the meeting was
being televised live.
Deputy head of the FJP Mohamed El-Beltagy said following the meeting
that all political forces, including opposition umbrella group the
National Salvation Front (which boycotted last week's conference), would
be invited to attend Monday's conference.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, another FJP source told Ahram
Online that the Monday conference was an initiative of the moderate
Islamist Wasat Party aiming at damage control after last week's
televised debacle.
Ethiopia set off alarm bells in Cairo two weeks ago when it began
diverting a stretch of the Blue Nile to make way for the $4.7 billion
hydroelectric Renaissance Dam project.
Ethiopia has faced criticism by downtream Nile countries Egypt and
Sudan for going ahead with the project without waiting on the
recommendations of the technical committee tasked with studying the
regional impact of the dam.
Nile riparian countries have argued over the use of the Nile waters
for decades. Analysts have repeatedly warned that these disputes could
boil over into war.
Source : Ahram via Amwal Al Ghad English
