Press TV has conducted an interview with Dr. Wafiq Moustafa, Egyptian Community Association, from UK, about a shocked Egypt and the building of an unannounced dam by Ethiopia on the Upper Nile. It has prompted violent reaction from Egypt which is fearful of interference of the project with the water supply that may threaten Egyptian agriculture. The following is an approximate transcript of the interview. Press TV: Your former President Morsi said, “If Egypt is the Nile’s gift then the Nile is a gift to Egypt and if it loses one drop of this grand renaissance dam then our blood is the alternative.” Do you back the Egyptian stance on this? Moustafa: I back pragmatism and dialogue; creating a new treaty, an understanding, that everybody is winning. Press TV: But do you see why the Egyptians are so concerned about this even to the point where some politicians were caught out saying they should bomb the dam? Moustafa: I did watch his dialogue in Arabic, it was really based on no proper information. The thing is the Egyptians were shocked to know about the dam. Egyptians had not heard about a dam being built; bigger than the high dam it would be the biggest construction on the River Nile. We have the two biggest constructions on the River Nile were in Egypt. You touched on the 1929 agreement between the Kingdom of Egypt, King Fuad and the British to give Egypt the lion’s share - I can see it is a little bit unfair and it needs a rethink; but at the same time I don’t want to see Egypt being starved or the mass of black land in Egypt being shrunk, because Egypt has 90 million people. So, we have to give a fair consideration to Egyptian needs without going into this rhetoric of blood and of wars. Press TV: So you don’t like the rhetoric, but you say Egypt is threatened by this? Moustafa: Certainly. Press TV: What about the way in which this situation can be resolved peacefully because some say that the reason why your former president Morsi upped the ante here was because he was under pressure - he marked one year as president and admitted recently he had made so many mistakes and so he tried to throw a bone to the people, particularly those who support the Freedom and Justice Party and say look, here I am, and I’m telling those Ethiopians what to do. Moustafa: Well, he can’t. There are no direct borders between Ethiopia and Egypt and we have Sudan in the middle and it’s quite complicated. That’s why I think negotiation and a political solution is very important. Egypt has got about 7 million acres of cultivated land - a very small amount. So if this is dropped even by 200,000 acres or half a million acres - that’s a huge area for Egypt and Egypt is one of the biggest importers of wheat in the world. The dilemma is quite large. How to resolve this within the African family between two ancient nations like Egypt and Ethiopia is very, very important. Press TV: But if you say all that to the Ethiopian side - and we’ll talk to the commander about that in just a moment - they might say you’ve had the run of the green for all these years - since 1929 you’ve been able to block and veto any other project upstream; what have you been doing all this time, you’ve been relaxing, you’ve been enjoying it, but what about us now? That’s not going to wash with them is it? Moustafa: Certainly, but I think there must be some point between the two sides where we can reach an agreement as His Excellency said that the water table of the Nile will not alter that much. How can we make the dam work for Ethiopia at the same time the water supply for Egypt is not diminished? Press TV: Do you believe the Nile belongs to Egypt because many Egyptians do, they say it’s a gift from God? Moustafa: Well, we’re talking about Egypt one of the oldest civilizations and they always thought the Nile was Egyptian. Press TV: But do you believe this is a gift from God that this belongs to Egypt? Moustafa: I’ve lived most of my life in England, I wouldn’t use that phrase, but certainly all my family will. Press TV: That email that post from Akee Frimpong, quite pertinent you might say, Egypt’s water flowing through ancient irrigation systems and we heard what Ambassador Shinn said there. So instead of saber-rattling and making those threats against Ethiopia you should have and you should focus on modernizing your equipment. Moustafa: Well, there is a point here because as I say only the last few weeks has this come about. It’s been going for two years. Even the Arab media, the Egyptian media and the dozens of TV stations and not anybody has touched it. Press TV: How can that be the case given it is a monumental project? Is it because you guys are asleep on the job? Moustafa: Yes it is a huge project and yes it must be, it must be someone not interested. It’s a game. The Arab world was really consumed with the Arab Spring, with the civil wars, with the trouble in Egypt.... But the fact of the matter is there is a problem and the problem is it will affect the cultivation process in Egypt. Of course there’s got to be some changes in the irrigation system in Egypt, the water seeping down, there must be some ways. This way has got to be win-win... Press TV: This is the thing, when you look at the countries waged against you essentially, those that have signed this new cooperative framework agreement replacing the old one. You know, you’ve got Uganda, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and only Sudan who is an ally of yours. Is this partly because Egypt has not been involved in African politics enough; in sub-Saharan politics, the African Union and that’s one of the reasons why you’re weak now in this situation? Moustafa: It’s unfortunate. The Arab media and the press seems to somehow have detached itself. Even the civil war in Sudan has hardly been reported. We have a very good feeling for Ethiopians who are very friendly. I remember as a child I was taken to the airport to clap my hands when the emperor used to come to Cairo. So we have a lot of feelings for them. This rhetoric of hate and propaganda is not really the way to resolve this issue.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 10:58:19 +0000
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