Despite Ethiopian officials’ insistence that the megaproject will not affect Egypt’s water supply, this recent development has triggered public ire in Egypt, which enjoys a lion’s share of Nile water.
The front-page of state mouthpiece Al-Ahram attempts to calm public fears with the headline “officials downplay, experts exaggerate ramifications of the project.”
Responding to the news that the river will be diverted, presidential spokesperson Omar Amer tells the paper that the move is an ‘engineering procedure’ and that Egypt is waiting for the tripartite committee, made up of experts from Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, to issue its report on the Renaissance Dam project before making any judgments.
Independent papers Youm7 and Al-Watan both describe the move as “a declaration of war on Egypt.”
Youm7 writes that Kamal Hassan, the Sudanese ambassador in Cairo and a representative of the Arab League, opined that Ethiopia’s announcement is “shocking.” Hassan added that Egypt and Sudan would turn to the Arab League to resolve the matter.
Al-Watan appende to its Wednesday issue a four page supplement entitled “The Setback of Renaissance.” The extensive report discusses potential scenarios of war between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Nile dispute.
According to Al-Watan, one of these scenarios would involve a proxy war in which Cairo would support rebel groups in Ethiopia by giving them funds and weapons though a third party. Another scenario would entail a direct intervention in which military planes would bomb the dam. Still another scenario would be comprised of sending a special army unit to disrupt construction of the dam.
In another article, senior government sources tell Al-Watan that the Interior Ministry and the Egyptian General Intelligence Service had warned President Mohamed Morsy about this crisis several times and had recommended that he make gestures of goodwill lest the situation escalate. The government, however, did not listen and remained indifferent to the looming threat, the sources said.
The paper features politicians’ criticisms of Ethiopia’s move and describes the president’s botched attempt to contain the situation during his visit to Addis Abba last week.
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By Heba Helmy, Egypt Independent (abridged)
