Egypt warns Ethiopia: Don't tamper with nation vital interests

Egypt has addressed a stern message to Ethiopia stressing that waters of the Nile are of paramount importance for the Egyptian people and that Cairo expects the Ethiopian side honor pertinent obligations, the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) said on Thursday. MENA in a report datelined Addis Ababa quoted the Egyptian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mohammad Idriss, as saying that he held talks with senior officials of the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry to express the Egyptian unwavering and explicit stance "regarding the water interests of the Egyptian people, as a matter of life and existence and that any infringement on it targets the higher interests of Egypt." The people of Egypt are shocked and upset due to Ethiopia's decision to alter course of the river, MENA quoted the ambassador as telling the Ethiopian officials. No country should seek to cause hunger and thirst in Egypt, "and such a step would create a dangerous situation that might undermine stability and peace and security in this strategic and vital region of the world," stressed Idriss. He added that the Ethiopian officials assured him that change course of part of the river would not affect flow of the water to Egypt. On Wednesday, Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Ethiopian Ambassador in Cairo Mahmoud Dardir over Ethiopia's recent move of diverting the course of the river for construction of its Renaissance Dam. The Blue Nile provides Egypt with the lion's share of its annual 55 billion cubic meters of river water. Egypt is believed to need an additional 21 billion cubic meters of water per year by 2050 - on top of its current quota of 55 billion meters - to meet the needs of a projected population of 150 million