CAIRO: Egypt on Friday blamed Ethiopia for the rising Nile River waters and flooding this week in two of its northernmost provinces, claiming the unusually high water levels are due to the east African country’s mismanagement of its new controversial dam on the river.
The floods in Beheira and Menoufia provinces in the Nile Delta in Egypt have submerged farmland and flooded village homes, many built illegally on silt deposits and sediments along the canals crisscrossing the delta.
Videos posted online Friday show residents in Menoufia wading through waist-deep water and partially submerged homes. In Ashmoun, farmers and residents were urged to urgently leave their lands and homes.
The extend of the damage by the floods in Egypt was not immediately known and officials in Menoufia could not be reached for comment and information about the damage.
Earlier this week, flooding along the Nile in war-stricken Sudan, which borders both Egypt and Ethiopia, prompted scores of villagers there to evacuate their homes. The UN migration agency, the International Organization for Migration, said on Thursday that about 100 households in Khartoum were also flooded.
Egypt now says that it was forced to discharge waters from its High Aswan Dam on the Nile in the country’s south, because it could not hold back rising water levels coming in from Ethiopia, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) away.
Ethiopia earlier this month inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africa’s largest dam, to boost its economy. The nearly $5 billion dam, located on the Blue Nile — one of the two main tributaries of the Nile — near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, is expected to double Ethiopia’s electricity generation capacity, according to officials.
But Egypt and Sudan say the dam in Ethiopia was in violation of an agreement — dating back to the colonial times — on how they should share Nile water resources.
On Friday, Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement that it was “closely monitoring developments” linked to what it says is “reckless unilateral actions by Ethiopia in managing its illegal dam, which violates international law.”
Ethiopia’s actions pose a “direct threat to the lives and security of the peoples of downstream countries,” the statement said.
Ethiopia says it is not responsible for the floodings downstream and that its new dam on the Blue Nile has actually helped in “reducing the catastrophic effect” the floods could otherwise cause in neighboring Sudan.
Egypt blames Ethiopia’s Nile dam for flooding
https://arab.news/z3whm
Egypt blames Ethiopia’s Nile dam for flooding
- Cairo says unusually high water levels are result of the east African country’s mismanagement of new controversial dam
- Flooding also hit Sudan, which borders both Egypt and Ethiopia, prompting scores of villagers to evacuate
Israel spied on US forces at Gaza aid base: Sources
- US commander summoned Israeli counterpart to say: ‘Recording has to stop here’
- Staff, visitors from other partner countries have also raised concerns about Israeli surveillance
LONDON: Israel conducted widespread surveillance of US forces involved in an aid mechanism for Gaza, The Guardian reported.
The Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel was launched in October as a joint body to monitor the ceasefire and oversee the entry of aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.
But sources with knowledge of internal disputes told The Guardian that open and covert recordings of meetings at the CMCC had prompted disputes between the two partners.
Lt. Gen. Patrick Frank, the US commander of the center, summoned his Israeli counterpart to explain that “recording has to stop here.”
Other countries, including the UK and UAE, are also involved in the CMCC. Staff and visitors from partner countries have likewise raised concerns about Israeli surveillance activities at the center.
When the CMCC began operations, media in the US and Israel reported that the latter was handing over authority to American forces.
Yet Israel still retains effective control over what enters the territory despite Washington’s considerable leverage, according to one US official.
US forces who arrived at the CMCC, including logistics experts, were keen to increase the flow of aid into Gaza.
But they soon discovered that Israel had implemented a wide range of controls on purported “dual-use” goods, creating a larger impediment than any engineering challenge relating to aid delivery. These included basic goods such as tent poles and chemicals used for water purification.
Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel has said he was briefed at the center on “one of the dual-use barriers that was being lifted as a result of the conversations (there).”
It came in response to growing awareness that Israeli restrictions on deliveries stood as the biggest barrier to the entry of aid into Gaza.
Israeli authorities had also restricted basic items such as pencils and paper — required by Palestinian students for school — without explanation.
There is widespread hesitancy among aid organizations and diplomats over joining the CMCC’s efforts, despite being invited to do so.
The center lacks any Palestinian representation, and even US efforts to schedule video calls with Palestinian officials were vetoed by Israeli staff there.
