An excerpt from, "Ethiopia: Halting Dam’s Construction Unthinkable" by Marthe van der Wolf (VOA News, June 6, 2013):
Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia are rising after Ethiopia began diverting the water of a Nile River tributary to build the continent’s biggest hydroelectric power plant. Despite criticism from Egypt, Ethiopia says construction of the dam will proceed.An excerpt from, "Morsi Aide Apologizes After Ethiopia Remarks Broadcast Live" (VOA News, June 4, 2013):
Ethiopia summoned the Egyptian ambassador this week to demand an explanation after Egyptian politicians were overheard on a live broadcast discussing ways to sabotage the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
The spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dina Mufti, says Ethiopia is surprised by the tone of Egyptian officials.
"Whether those propaganda that are coming from that corner are the government's position or not, we have asked for verification. We are caught by surprise because some government officials, party leaders and civil society leaders, they were talking about Ethiopia violently and we were surprised. We are waiting for this tone to be watered down very soon," said Dina Mufti.
Egyptian politicians have proposed ways to sabotage an Ethiopian dam project in talks that were televised live without the politicians' knowledge.An excerpt from, "Risk of water wars rises with scarcity," by Chris Arsenault (Al Jazeera, August 26, 2012):
An aide to Egypt's president apologized for failing to tell the politicians they were on the air Monday during the meeting with President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo.
The aide said on Twitter that a decision was made at the last minute to air the meeting live, due to the importance of the topic.
Ethiopia has angered Egypt with its plans to construct a massive hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, a key Nile River tributary.
During Monday's meeting, an Islamist party leader suggested Egypt support Ethiopian rebels to exert pressure on Addis Ababa. A liberal politician suggested spreading rumors that Egypt was buying military planes for possible airstrikes.
An excerpt from, "The Geopolitics of Water in the Nile River Basin," by Prof. Majeed A. Rahman (Global Research, July 24, 2011):The battle for control of the life-giving waters of the Nile has gone on for centuries and continues to this day.The current tenuous political situation in Egypt means that "if the army wants to divert attention away from criticism, it would probably do something against Ethiopia," water expert Adel Darwish told Al Jazeera.
Ethiopia has pushed forward her demand to develop water resources through hydroelectric power along the Nile. However, for several decades, Egypt has denied other riparian countries complete access to water resources along the Nile, and for that matter has exercised her hegemonic powers over the development and control of the use of water resources in the Nile river basin for many decades. The Nile river basin has survived centuries, and for many years has served as Egypt’s economic hub, political power and growth since ancient times. The water resources in the Nile basins have also served as economic, political, social and cultural achievements of Egypt’s influence in the sub region.Video: Politicians, Unaware They Are on Air, Threaten Ethiopia over Dam Construction (Source: MEMRI TV)
Video: Egyptian Official Comments On Negative Global Reaction To Video of Egyptian Politicians Discussing Violent Means To Sabotage Ethiopia's Dam Project
