Russia, Egypt meet to discuss $4B arms deal; Turkey and Egypt row over the Ethiopian dam

February 13, 2014 (UPI) — Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and President Putin after the weapons purchase deal that was financed by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirate

MOSCOW, Feb. 13 (UPI) – Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaling strengthening ties, officials said.

The purpose of al-Sisi’s visit Wednesday was to finalize an arms deal worth a possible $4 billion after the United States halted longstanding military aid and shipments of arms to Egypt, Ahram Online reported, citing anonymous Egyptian military sources.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, though, said Egypt is not looking to replace one international partner with another.

“These … talks [between defense and foreign ministers] reflect how important Egypt is for Russia and how excellent relations are between us,” he said.

Fahmy, who was also on hand for the meeting, said he had planned to discuss the Ethiopian Renaissance dam and counter-terrorism cooperation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the talks emphasized Russia’s desire to “enhance bilateral relations that have continued alongside decades of mutual respect and cooperation.”

Source: UPI

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Egypt minister slams Turkey for role in Ethiopia dam

Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib accused Turkey of offering expertise to Ethiopia over the proposed Nile dam project that will threaten Egypt’s water supply

World Bulletin / News Desk | February 13, 2014

Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had visited Addis Ababa and offered Turkish expertise on Ethiopia’s controversial multi-billion dollar hydroelectric dam project.

“Any side that doesn’t like Egypt could be in the scene,” Abdel-Muttalib said in televised statements late Tuesday.

“The Turkish foreign minister visited Addis Ababa and offered them [Ethiopian officials] Turkish expertise,” he added.

“What I want to say is that when Turkey built the Ataturk Dam, it made the Syrians and the Iraqis thirsty and ignored international agreements,” Abdel-Muttalib claimed.

“I want to stress that Egypt is not Iraq or Syria, and Ethiopia is not Turkey,” he added.

The Turkish government is yet to respond to the Egyptian minister’s claims.

Ethiopia is building a hydroelectric dam, called the Renaissance Dam, over the Blue Nile where most of Egypt’s Nile water revenues come.

But the controversial project has raised alarms in Egypt, the most populous Arab country, about its water share.

Nile water distribution among the countries of the Nile basin used to rest on a colonial-era agreement giving Egypt and Sudan the lion’s share of Nile water.

Citing development ambitions, Ethiopia insists it needs to build a series of dams to generate electricity both for local consumption and exporting.

It maintains that the new dam can be of benefit for the two downstream states of Sudan and Egypt, which will be invited to purchase electricity generated by it.

“Ethiopian officials say they do want to harm Egypt. But when we ask them to put that on paper they refuse,” said Abdel-Muttalib.

The remarks came hours after his return from Addis Ababa where he held talks with officials there on the dam.

He accused Ethiopian officials of turning down all proposals to narrow the gap between the two sides.

“We are not naïve to continue dialogue without reaching a solution. There are other alternatives that we need to take,” the minister said without elaborating.

Source: World Bulletin               source (  http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/russia-egypt-meet-to-discuss-4b-arms-deal-turkey-and-egypt-row-over-the-ethiopian-dam/  )