Egypt says ‘all options are open’ in dealing with Ethiopian dam

Al-Arabiya: “All options are open” in dealing with an Ethiopian dam seen by Egypt as a threat to its historic rights to Nile waters, an adviser to Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi warned on Wednesday.

“It is Egypt’s right to defend its interests, and other people have a right to follow their own interests. But there must be assurances the Ethiopian dam will not affect Egypt, otherwise all options are open,” Ayman Ali said, according to Egypt’s media. Pakinam el-Sharkawy, another presidential adviser, told the official MENA news agency that Egypt would demand that Ethiopia cease the construction of the dam, AFP reported.

The presidency considers the dam as a “national security” issue for Egypt, Sharkawy added. “Demanding of Ethiopia to stop construction of the dam it intends to build on the Blue Nile will be our first step,” she said, according to MENA.

During a meeting on Tuesday with President Mursi several politicians proposed plans to carry out covert attacks against Ethiopia, with some suggesting the bombardment of the Renaissance Dam. The politicians made their suggestions not knowing that their meeting with the president was being aired live on television.

Egypt believes more studies are needed on the dam’s impact on its water supply which is almost entirely dependent on the Nile, although far more on the flow down the White Nile from the Great Lakes of East Africa, than that down the Blue Nile from the Ethiopian highlands....

USGS provided this satellite image of the Blue Nile in Sudan