CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday he would meet Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Russia to discuss a dispute over a hydropower dam that the Horn of Africa country is building on the River Nile.
A long-running diplomatic standoff over building and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has heightened tensions between the two countries. Egypt worries that the dam will threaten its already scarce water supplies.
"I agreed with the Ethiopian prime minister to meet in Moscow and to discuss the issue to move forward, and God willing, things will go in a way that helps to solve this issue in one way or another," Sisi said at a military forum on Sunday.
He did not say when they would meet, but Russia will host the first Russian-African summit in the Black sea resort of Sochi on Oct. 23 and 24.
Sisi and Abiy spoke on Friday after the Ethiopian prime minister won the Nobel Peace Prize for his peacemaking efforts with Eritrea. Sisi had congratulated Abiy on Facebook.
"The call included a stress on the importance of overcoming any obstacles in the negotiations of the Renaissance Dam," said Egyptian presidency spokesman Bassam Rady.
Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile which joins the White Nile in Khartoum and runs on to Egypt, says the dam will not disrupt the river's flow and hopes the project will transform it into a power hub for the electricity-hungry region.
Sudan, which is also involved in the talks, hopes to buy electricity produced by the dam.
Sisi said his government had a plan, through 2037, worth 900 billion Egyptian pounds ($55 billion) to overcome "water poverty". The plan includes building huge sea water desalination plants and sewage triple treatment plants.
Sisi said Egypt had already spent 200 billion pounds on the plan, and would spend 70-100 billion more next year.
Many Egyptians on social media criticised Sisi for signing a 2015 "declaration of principles" with Ethiopia and Sudan, which was meant to serve as a basis for negotiations. Critics say the declaration has strengthened Addis Ababa's hand in talks, and no breakthrough has been made since it was signed in Khartoum.
Sisi blamed the 2011 uprising which toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak for weakening Cairo's position in the dam negotiations.
"If not for 2011, there would have been a strong and easy agreement on constructing this dam, but when the country exposed its back and ... stripped its shoulder naked, anything could be done," he said at the military forum.
($1 = 16.2000 Egyptian pounds)
Egypt’s president to meet with Ethiopia PM over Nile dispute
Egypt’s president to meet with Ethiopia PM over Nile dispute
- Sisi said in televised remarks Sunday the meeting with Abiy Ahmed will take place in Russia
- Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan failed to resolve their differences over the Blue Nile dam
World court orders Israel to take action to address Gaza famine
- The ICJ said the Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation are spreading
- “The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (...) but that famine is setting in,” the judges said
THE HAGUE: Judges at the International Court of Justice on Thursday unanimously ordered Israel to take all the necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to the Palestinian population in Gaza.
The ICJ said the Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation are spreading.
“The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (...) but that famine is setting in,” the judges said in their order.
The new measures were requested by South Africa as part of its ongoing case that accuses Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.
In January the ICJ, also known as the World Court, ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
In Thursday’s order the court reaffirmed the January measures but added Israel must take action to ensure unhindered provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance including food, water and electricity as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza.
The judges added that this could be done “by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary.” The court ordered Israel to submit a report in a month after the order to detail how it had given effect to the ruling.
‘Utmost importance’ for Israel, Lebanon to restore calm: US
- “Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said
WASHINGTON: The White House called Thursday on Israel and Lebanon to put a high priority on restoring calm after new deadly border crossfire and Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah.
“Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden and for the administration and it has to be of utmost importance, we believe, as well for both Lebanon and Israel,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
UN ‘deeply disturbed’ by strikes on Lebanon rescue workers
- “Up to 11 civilians were killed in a single day, including 10 paramedics,” said Imran Riza, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon
- “Attacks on health care violate international humanitarian law and are unacceptable”
BEIRUT: The United Nations on Thursday said it was “deeply disturbed” by attacks on health care facilities, a day after several strikes blamed on Israel killed 10 emergency rescue workers in southern Lebanon.
“The tragic events of the past 36 hours have resulted in a significant loss of life and injuries in south Lebanon. Up to 11 civilians were killed in a single day, including 10 paramedics,” said Imran Riza, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon.
There has been near-daily cross-border fire between Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, and Israel since Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza.
Lebanese groups say three separate Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including on a health center in the border village of Habariyeh, killed the 11 civilians.
“I am deeply disturbed by the repeated attacks on health facilities and health workers who risk their lives to provide urgent assistance to their local communities,” Riza added.
“Attacks on health care violate international humanitarian law and are unacceptable,” the UN official said in a statement.
Several militant groups in Lebanon operate health centers and emergency response operations.
Hezbollah said four of its fighters and two rescuers were killed in Wednesday’s strikes, while its ally the Amal movement said it had lost two members, including a rescuer.
An official from the Jamaa Islamiya militant group had earlier told AFP that “seven rescuers” were killed in Israeli strikes on the emergency center in Habariyeh.
The Israeli military said the target of one of the strikes was “a military compound” and those killed were Jamaa Islamiya militants.
It said a “significant terrorist operative” and other members of the group were planning attacks against Israel at the time of the strike.
Hezbollah responded to the deadly strikes by sending a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, killing one civilian in Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday.
The group on Thursday said they targeted the northern Israeli town of Shlomi and agricultural village of Goren in retaliation for the previous day’s attacks.
The uptick in violence has raised fears of a broader escalation in the conflict.
At least 346 people have been killed in Lebanon — mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians — in clashes with Israel over the last six months, according to an AFP tally.
The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.
Nine people die in crash during Iran holiday season
- Police say 585 people have died on the roads since the start of a holiday season
- The latest accident in Semnan province saw two vehicles crash and catch fire
TEHRAN: Nine people were killed in a car crash in northeastern Iran on Thursday, the worst single accident since the start of the Persian new year holiday, state media reported.
Police say 585 people have died on the roads since the start of a holiday season that runs from 19 March to 1 April, and sees many Iranians travel to visit family.
The latest accident in Semnan province east of the capital Tehran saw two vehicles crash and catch fire, reported IRNA state news agency quoting the emergency services.
IRNA reported that the death toll for the holiday season last year was 1,217.
The high number of deaths has been blamed on the poor condition of parts of the road network, careless driving and the low quality of the vehicles.
A police official in 2022 accused local car makers of delivering “unsafe” vehicles to the public while charging them the same price as foreign companies.
Several overseas car firms quit Iran in 2018 after the US reimposed sanctions over the country’s nuclear program.
Palestinian PM Mustafa forms cabinet, calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
- He was also assigned to lead the relief and rebuilding of Gaza and performs double-duty as foreign minister, replacing Riyad Al-Maliki
- Abbas appointed the new government in a demonstration of willingness to meet international demands for change in the administration
RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa formed a new cabinet on Thursday in which he will also serve as foreign minister, making an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza a priority, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Mustafa, an ally to President Mahmoud Abbas and a leading business figure, was appointed premier this month with a mandate to help reform the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
He was also assigned to lead the relief and rebuilding of Gaza, which has been shattered by more than five months of war, while he performs double-duty as foreign minister, replacing Riyad Al-Maliki who had served in the position since 2009.
Abbas, who as president remains by far the most powerful figure in the PA, appointed the new government in a demonstration of willingness to meet international demands for change in the administration.
He approved Mustafa’s cabinet with financial expert Omar Al- Bitar as finance minister, and Muhamad al Amour, who served as the president of the Palestinian Businessmen Association, as economy minister. He kept Ziad Hab Al-Reeh, former chief of the PA’s internal intelligence agency, as interior minister, WAFA said.
The new cabinet, which includes eight ministers from Gaza, will also include a state minister for “relief affairs.”
Mustafa said in a statement addressed to Abbas that the first national priority was an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, in addition to allowing humanitarian aid to enter in large quantities and reaching all areas, WAFA reported.
“In order to enable the launch of the recovery process and preparation for reconstruction, stop the aggression and settlement activities, and curb settlers’ terrorism in the West Bank,” Mustafa added.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that controlled Gaza until Israel’s invasion in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has criticized the appointment of Mustafa but it had no immediate reaction to the naming of his new cabinet.
STRAINED
The PA, controlled by Abbas’ Fatah political faction, has long had a strained relationship with Hamas and the two factions fought a brief war before Fatah was expelled from the territory in 2007.
However it has repeatedly condemned the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and has insisted it must play a role in running Gaza after the war, a position supported by the United States.
For the moment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected PA involvement in Gaza, and for months his hard-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has refused to hand over tax revenues due to the Authority, which still funds health and some other services in the enclave.
For months, thousands of Palestinian public sector employees have gone unpaid or received only a part of their salary as a result of the standoff. Mustafa said the government was taking office at a time of “unprecedented financial crisis.”
He said salary arrears owed to public sector employees now totalled $745 million with another $1.3 billion owed to private sector suppliers and $3 billion more in pension arrears, while revenues in January were down 30 percent compared to before the war.