Egyptians ready to sacrifice souls for the Nile

Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi has affirmed that "all options" remain under consideration by his leadership to deal with the issue of Ethiopia's plan to building a dam on the highly vital Nile River. Egyptian people can be patient regarding many issues, except for threats against the country's borders and security, Mursi said at a convention on Egypt's water rights, held late on Monday, affirming the nation view of the river as the source of their very existence. In yet his strongest terms against the Ethiopian project, the president stressed, "Our blood substitutes any decrease of the flow of the river waters even a single drop," sharing many Egyptians' concern that the construction of the Ethiopian dam would result in cutting volume of the water flow reaching Egypt. "Those who believe that Egypt is preoccupied with (internal) challenges at the expense of protecting the borders and our water are in illusion," Mursi stressed further, in an explicit indication that Cairo might resort to military force, if diplomacy fails to dissuade the Ethiopians from pressing ahead with the dam project. According to Egyptian studies, Mursi added, the dam project implies "negative ramifications," criticizing Ethiopian designs of the venture and noting that it would also lead to negative environmental and social consequences. The president addressed several messages in his speech; one to the Egyptian people they must affirm that they would not tolerate any shortage of the river water flow, another to the local political parties that they must close ranks and unite for sake of the nation higher interests and a third to Ethiopia that Cairo was not against development projects provided they would harm interests of the other countries in the region. The Nile River has been considered as very much vital for Egypt since old times.