|
Morsi warns Ethiopia over Nile dam
Egypt's president has warned Ethiopia that all options are open" in dealing with its construction of a Nile dam that threatens to leave Egypt with a shortage of water.In a live televised speech on Monday, Mohammed Morsi said Egypt was not calling for war, but it is willing to go up against any threats to its water security. "If it loses one drop, our blood is the alternative," he said to a raucous crowd of largely Islamist supporters that broke into a standing ovation. "We are not calling for war, but we will not allow, at all, threats against our water security," Morsi said before adding, "all options are open." He told the crowd, "The great Nile is that which all our lives are connected to. The lives of the Egyptians are connected around it ... as one great people." Later in the speech, Morsi said that Egypt considered Ethiopia a "friend" and pointed out that he had visited the country twice since taking office. Ethiopia's $4.2 billion hydroelectric dam challenges a colonial-era agreement that had given Egypt and Sudan the majority of rights to water from the Nile. Experts believe that Egypt could lose as much as 20% of its Nile water in the three to five years needed for Ethiopia to fill the massive reservoir. Posted by: ryuge 2013-06-12 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=370049 |