Egypt’s Morsi To Discuss Ethiopian Dam With Political Forces

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will convene on Monday with heads of political parties to discuss a report by the tripartite technical committee on Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam project.

Morsi has called for a national dialogue session to review the results of the report, said a presidential statement.

The tripartite committee (made up of experts from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia) issued a report that recommends more studies for the dam’s effects on security, water resources and environment.

The presidential statement said that the studies of the report were not sufficient in comparison to the volume of the project.

Morsi has assigned his government to make detailed studies over the issue with the Sudanese and Ethiopian sides to reach specific steps that guarantee the nonstop flow of the Nile River.

On Tuesday, Ethiopia began diverting the course of the Blue Nile river, one of the Nile River’s two major tributaries, for the construction of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

A move that raised concerns over Egypt’s water supply as a downstream country.

The dam is built along the river that provides Egypt with about 60 percent of its annual 55 million cubic meters of Nile water.

Source:Aswat Masriya