Thursday, February 25, 2016

Israel Invited to Mediate Egypt-Ethiopia Dispute - Hamodia






By Yisrael Price
YERUSHALAYIM - Israel could help to broker a settlement of the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over use of the Nile waters, The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday.
A member of the Egyptian parliament, Tawfik Okasha, invited the Israeli ambassador in Cairo to discuss the option of Israeli mediation, which he says is the key to resolving the matter, according to Egyptian media reports.
“I have personally invited the Israeli ambassador, Chaim Koren, to a dinner at my house next week to discuss the Nile dispute and other important issues.”




In an indication that the improvement in Israeli-Egyptian relations is real and may no longer have to be conducted in secret, Okasha told Egyptian journalists: “I will take a photo with him and give it to you so you can publish it.”
Underlining the point, Okasha said: “We, the Egyptians have a schizophrenic personality. Don’t our police secure the Israeli ambassador? Doesn’t our intelligence participate in safeguarding him? The safeguarding of the Israeli ambassador is 15 times better than the safeguarding of any other ambassador in Egypt. Isn’t the presence of an Israeli ambassador in Egypt a result of Israel and Egypt’s mutual recognition of each other?”
Koren said he was surprised at the invitation, and sounded a bit wary in an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday. “When an Egyptian MP is interested in promoting the shared interest of Israel and Egypt, of course we welcome the initiative and try to figure out what it is about.” He noted that it stands in contrast to the official anti-normalization policy of the Egyptian parliament.
The Nile dispute centers on the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Resistance Dam. For Ethiopia, it promises a source of renewable energy; but Egypt is concerned that it could result in a decrease in its share of the river’s water. The project could also lead to periods of drought and a possible dam collapse as a result of its construction in an area with a strong flow of Blue Nile waters, Egypt argues.


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Saturday, February 13, 2016

Deadly dam in Mosul expected to break any time soon



Published kl 15.44




"Experts think half a million to 1 million people will die due to this catastrophe if it takes place"
(3:34 min)

Bild på Mosuldammen
Picture of the Mosul Dam.
A team of Swedish researchers is working to find viable solutions to what some call the world's most dangerous dam, the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq. If it collapses millions of people could die.




Completed in 1984, the dam sits atop unstable ground, reports Swedish Radio News. Recently a team of American engineers published a report that claimed coditions had worsened after a brief period in 2014 when the Islamic State (IS) controlled the dam.
The dam is 113 meters high and 3.5 kilometers long and is built on a stretch of the Tigris River which sits some tens of kilometers upstream from Mosul with an urban area home to more than a million people. The dam provides water and electricity to large parts of Iraq when it is in operation.
Unfortunately, the foundation is built upon ground that contains limestone and gypsum, which is vulnerable to forming cracks and sinkholes. For decades cavities in and around the dam have needed to be filled with concrete, a procedure carried out every day of the week.
Nadhir Al-Ansari, a professor at the Luleå University of Technology, told Radio Sweden that researchers at Luleå believe only the construction of an additional dam downriver can provide a permanent solution.
"The Iraqi government in the 80s, they asked the international experts, and the decision was to build another dam downstream from Mosul Dam to absorb the wave of that dam. And we think this is correct. This is the right permanent solution," said Al-Ansari.
He said Luleå researchers were planning an international workshop at the American Education Center in Rome this April. They will invite Iraqi officials and international dam experts to discuss short and long-term planning for preventing a catastrophe.
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Saturday, February 6, 2016

Congo supports Egypt on Ethiopian dam issue: Prime minister - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online


The Congolese PM met with his Egyptian counterpart and Egypt's parliament speaker

Ahram Online , Thursday 4 Feb 2016
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Congolese PM

Congolese PM Augustin Matata Ponyo and the Egyptian House of Representative speaker Ali Abdel Aal (Photo:House of Repesentatives)
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    • Congolese Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo has announced his country's support for Egypt's position in the ongoing dispute over Ethiopia’s controversial Grand Renaissance Dam, which Addis Ababa is building on a tributary to the River Nile.

    "We have declared our position before regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and we always support Egypt," Ponyo said at a press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sherif Ismail on Thursday during a visit to Cairo.
    Ismail, in return, expressed Egypt's support for Congo’s construction of the Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River. 
    The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of Africa’s Nile Basin countries.
    Despite Egypt’s concerns over the dam's impact on its share of Nile water, the country's main source of fresh water, Ethiopia insists it would not negatively affect Egypt negatively.
    Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have been holding talks over the dam, and are waiting for independent technical reports to determine how the dam might impact upstream countries
    The Congolese PM and his Egyptian counterpart discussed bilateral cooperation between the two countries. The two officials signed a number of economic development protocols of cooperation.
    Ponyo also visited Egypt’s House of Representatives and met with its speaker Ali Abdel-Al.
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