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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sat Aug 13 2011 - 15:22:57 EDT
http://www.sudantribune.com/Egypt-seeks-coordination-with,39813
Egypt seeks coordination with Sudan on Nilewaters
August 11, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir
received a letter today from Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi who
heads Egypt’s Supreme military council that is running the country since
president Hosni Mubarak was ousted earlier this year.
[image: JPEG - 31 kb] *Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt’s
ruling military council (Reuters)*
The message was delivered byEgypt’s Irrigation Minister Hesham Qandeel who
started a two-day visit to Khartoum today.
Qandeel said the letter is related to bilateral ties and continuous
coordination withregard to Nile basin issues and revealed the intention to
hold tripartite meeting that would include Ethiopia to discuss thedam Addis
Ababa intends to build.
Sudan and Egypt have jointly launched a diplomatic offensive against a
treaty signed by six ofthe Nile’s upstream countries – Kenya, Uganda,
Ethiopia, Tanzania , Rwanda and Burundi – to alter shares of the Nile water
as defined in a colonial-era accord which gives Egypt the lion’s share of
the water and the right to vetoNile projects proposed by other countries.
Egypt is strongly opposed to plans by Ethiopia to build a multi-billion
dollar mega dam along its share of the Nile near the Sudanese border.
However, Ethiopia insists that the dam will benefit the countries
downstream with a better regulated water flow, increase the electrical
capacity of the region and lower water-loss due to evaporation.
Under a 1929 pact, Egypt is entitled to 55.5 billion cubic meters a year of
the Nile’s flow of around 84 billion cubic meters.
Egypt, threatened by rising temperatures and a growing population, is almost
entirely dependent onthe Nile for its water and has been nervously watching
hydropower dam projects take shape in upriver nations.
(ST)
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