Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Tuesday delivered a stern warning to Ethiopia over its giant Nile dam, saying it would be a "mistake" for anyone to think his country would compromise on its water rights.
Egypt and fellow downstream nation Sudan have been against the $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) since construction began in 2011.
"Egypt fully rejects unilateral measures in the eastern Nile basin," Mr El Sisi said in a veiled reference to Ethiopia. "Anyone who thinks Egypt will compromise on its water rights is making a mistake," he said after talks in Cairo with Yoweri Museveni, Uganda's long-time President.
Egypt, the most populous Arab nation with 107 million people, fears the hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile, the larger tributary, could reduce its share of the river's water which provides almost all of its freshwater needs.
It has called the dam an existential threat, arguing that any decline in its water share will wipe out millions of farming jobs and ruin its delicate food balance.
With the dam's reservoir now full to capacity, Egypt's main concern is how much water Addis Ababa will allow to flow downstream during severe drought.
Sudan, for its part, fears that any structural damage to the dam would submerge large parts of the country. It has also complained that Addis Ababa was not sharing data on the dam's operation.
The two countries have engaged in years of fruitless negotiations with Ethiopia to reach a legally binding deal on the filling and operation of the dam.
Ethiopia, which last month announced the construction of the Gerd was complete, argues the dam is crucial to its development. It has also sought to reassure Egypt and Sudan that no harm would come to them as a result of the dam, which sits a short distance from the Sudanese border.
On Tuesday, Mr El Sisi said Egypt was aware the pressure it has been subjected to over its Nile water share was part of a larger campaign to "realise other objectives". He did elaborate.
Egypt and Sudan's combined share of the Nile's water – about 85 billion cubic metres a year – amounts to only 4 per cent of the total volume of the river and its tributaries, the Egyptian leader said.
"Egypt has no other source of water and gets very little rain," he said. "We will be giving up our lives if we compromise on our share. Those who live where it rains do not feel for those who get none."
The Gerd began producing power in 2022 and is expected ultimately to generate more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity – double Ethiopia’s current output and enough to make the Horn of Africa nation of 120 million people a net energy exporter.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
Company%20profile
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The%20specs
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Day 2, stumps
Pakistan 482
Australia 30/0 (13 ov)
Australia trail by 452 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the innings
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
