PRESIDENT MORSI CALLS FOR EGYPTIAN UNITY IN FACE OF THREATS TO NILE WATER

      Cairo, 2 Sya’ban 1434/12 June 2013 (MINA) President Mohamed Morsi urged its people to stand united in the face of Egypt’s latest foreign policy challenge, adverse effect of Ethiopia’s Grand Nile Dam project on Egypt.

     “This is a great show of unity that reveals that we stand together to face threats to the country,” Morsi delivered speech  at a national conference organised by Egyptian on Monday evening (11/6) to discuss recommended responses to Ethiopia’s recent decision to divert the course of the Blue Nile – a move that Egyptian critics fear could diminish Egypt’s traditional share of Nile water.

       “If Egypt is ‘the gift of the Nile,’ then the Nile is God’s gift to Egypt,” large swathes of the audience chanted in unison, Ahram reported as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

       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 downstream Nile countries Egypt and Sudan for going ahead with the project without waiting on the recommendations of the committee tasked with studying the regional impact of the dam.

       Nile riparian countries have argued over the division of Nile water for decades. Analysts have repeatedly warned that the dispute could eventually boil over into military conflict.

       The president also stressed that Egypt would not be distracted from its mission to protect its borders, water resources and land by post-revolution political turbulence or economic challenges. “We will defend each drop of Nile water with our blood if necessary,” he warned.

       President Morsi repeatedly stressed that Egyptians would “not tolerate” any threat to their traditional allotment of Nile water, describing the river as the country’s “primary source of livelihood, history and civilisation.”

      “The people of Egypt are patient with anything, unless their borders and lives are put under threat… in which case we will stand united to tear out the threat at the root,” he declared. “With our faith in God and the will of the Egyptian people, we will surmount all difficulties.”

       The president went on to stress, however, that “dialogue” with its fellow riparian states represented Egypt’s “best means” of resolving the crisis.

       After May 2011, he said, Egypt had joined an international commission tasked with studying the dam’s potential impact on downstream states. The commission, he said, had so far held six meetings and conducted four field visits to Ethiopia.

        The studies, however, had proven insufficient to assess the dam’s impact on Egypt or assess its overall environmental and social impacts, he said. Independent technical studies by foreign specialists, he added, had revealed that the dam would have negative ramifications if it was not built in accordance with certain criteria.

        Morsi went on to say Egypt had been exerting efforts to bolster relations with Nile Basin states, especially Ethiopia, citing recent increases in tourist numbers and bilateral trade, along with $2 billion worth of recent Egyptian investments in Ethiopia.

        The president also said that “all options” were on the table to respond to the current situation and insisted that Egypt would not accept infringements on its water security.

        “We have said several times that Egyptians with their revolution carry a message of peace…We do not want war, but we do not accept threats to our security.”

        Morsi also asked opposing political forces to stand united at a time when Egypt faces hard challenges and to put aside all political rivalries. He went on to call for “national reconciliation,” adding that he was certain that political figures would respond positively to his appeals.

        “The country demands that we stand united,” he said, issuing his call for reconciliation only weeks before planned mass demonstrations on 30 June to demand snap presidential elections.

       Finally, the president said that Egypt sought to “strengthen unity” with other African states, especially Ethiopia. “We do not want to create enemies; we want dialogue… and development for Africa,” he asserted.

        With hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members outside the conference venue and hundreds more inside the auditorium, the president was constantly cheered by supporters.(T/P03/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)