Ambassador Mohamed Drirr Met with Ex-Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa

June 5, 2013

According to  Daily News Egypt Ethiopia`s Ambassador in Egypt met with ex-Egypt`s Minister of Foreign Affairs and ex-Secretary General of the Arab League and Presidential Candidate Amr Moussa. Amr Moussa is currently leader of the opposition party Conference Party and the National Salvation Front (NSF) leader. Ambassador Mohamed Drirr has a two hours meeting with Amr Moussa on the recent developments on the Nile. Ambassador Mohamed has made clear to the opposition leader that Ethiopia has no any intention of harming egypt or affecting its access to the Nile waters.
Ambssador Mohamed Drirr told Amr Moussa that his country needs to maintain the friendly relations between the two countries. Both discussed on how to overcome the current crisis happened following Ethiopia`s work of redirecting the Blue Nile to accomplish the civil and engineering work of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The dispute is further escalated following the submission of the report of the International Panel of Experts (IPoE) on the GERD. According to the IPoE the GERD will not significantly affect water flow to downstream states-Egypt and the Sudan. The report further underlined that the Dam has a lot of benefits to all the riparian states. According to reports in the media and a press releases the IPoE has recommended to do further studies if there are any benefits to be shared or problems to be solved in the best interest of the Basin states. But such recommendation has been interpreted by the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi as if the IPoE stated the study made by Ethiopia is inadequate.

Following the submission of the report to the governments of the three riparian states directly concerned with the dam Ethiopia, Egypt and the Sudan, President Morsi invited opposition leaders and religious representatives to discuss on the matter. But the meeting between the president and the politicians was an embarrassment for both the politicians and the Egyptian people as a nation as most of the politicians were paranoid and suggested laughable comments in a mistakenly televised meeting. Following this drama opposition leader and the National Salvation Front Coordinator, Mohamed Elbardi has apologized the people and government of Ethiopia for what happened in the presidential palace in Cairo in his twitter account.  As reported by Egypt Independent Mohamed ElBaradei further “called on President Mohamed Morsy to apologize to Ethiopia and Sudan for “the irresponsible utterances” made during the national dialogue session held on Monday to discuss the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis.” It is in the middle of such situations that Ambassador Mohamed Drirr and Amr Moussa met. According to reports Ambassador Mohamed told Amr Mouusa that the “campaigns against Ethiopia in Egypt are not based on correct information.” Answering to one of the comments made in the president`s meeting Ambassador Mohamed stated that “Israel has no anything to do with the dam or its effects.” Bringing Israel and the USA into the Nile politics is the very character of the few paranoid Egyptians who have no correct information about Ethiopia`s development plans and Nile policy.
In another news Ethiopia`s Minister of Water and Energy, Adugna Tegenu has reaffirmed Egypt not to be worried regarding the GERD. The Minister further stated that Ethiopia is ready to have dialogue on any matter with Egypt. This blog has learned that Ethiopia so far has not replied officially to the  Sunday`s embarrassing drama in Cairo.