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Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

Thursday, 5 December 2013

#RIPMandela : #Africa Lost an Icon

Posted on 15:05 by Unknown
And South Africa announced officially the death of its leader and hero Nelson Mandela. I do not know what to see or how I can express my sadness. It was a tough week back here in North East of Africa , in Egypt where young revolutionaries are sent to jails just like Mandela in his youth for protesting and Ahmed Fouad Negm dies . It was tough week indeed.
Mandela upon his release on 11 February 1990
Nelson Mandela could be the most famous African leader known now in the Egyptian media unlike any other African leader. But even Mandela , what most people know about him in Egypt from the media is that he was the first African or rather black president to rule South Africa after years of whites’ rule .. oh and he was imprisoned many years before that and he got a Nobel Prize.That’s it.
The people do not know about his struggle nor about his experience in South Africa nor about the experience of the transitional period in South Africa. May Be if they truly know those things and try to learn from other countries’ experiences , things we would be different now in Egypt .
Egyptian tweeps are sharing his famous quotes, I hope each one of them began to read about his life and experience , about co-existence and about justice !!
The question I ask myself now : How many years do we have to wait in Egypt till we have our Nelson Mandela in order to lead and inspire the people !? Yes people need a a figure sometimes to inspire them and unfortunately our people are still in these times. Do we have to wait for another 30 years !? I swear to God we do not need another Nasser now but rather another Nelson Mandela for real.
I know that I suppose to write something about this world icon but instead I am speaking about my country because for me Mandela is associated with Freedom , democratic transitional rule, justice , hope and citizenship.
Things God knows we need now so much in Egypt.
Africa lost an icon , may he inspire more generations in this land struggling for hope for decades now.
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Posted in Africa, African Faces, Democracy, Egypt, Human rights, Politics | No comments

Saturday, 9 November 2013

Links and Notes 11/09/2013

Posted on 00:31 by Unknown
  • When You Kill Ten Million Africans You Aren’t Called ‘Hitler’ | Diary of a Walking Butterfly

    About the not so much heard genocide committed by Leopold II in Congo

    tags: #DWC #LN genocide racism Europe Africa Congo Belgium

  • Russell Brand: we deserve more from our democratic system | Russell Brand | Comment is free | The Guardian

    Russell Brand caused controversy last week with interview on BBC about elections and democracy. He is explaining his views more.

    tags: #DWC #LN democracy change Russell Brand UK Elections

  • Michael Haag: The Struggle to Preserve Egypt's Heritage

    It is not only a struggle in fact it is like war that we are losing day after day.

    tags: #DWC #LN Egypt heritage history Cairo Alexandria

  • Mansour revives plan for nuclear power plant on Egyptian coast - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

    The history of Egypt's ill fated Nuclear power plant in Dabaa , North Coast

    tags: #DWC #LN plant power Egypt Energy Nuclear Nuke

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Posted in Africa, Culture, Daily World Links, Egypt, Egyptian History, Environment, History, Matrouh, National Security | No comments

Thursday, 7 November 2013

#Hala’ib triangle in Photos : The village of #Abraq by Yasser EL Rasoul

Posted on 12:46 by Unknown

And here is the second part of The Hala’ib triangle in photos series. I started it with a photo slide show from Shalateen Port. This time the slide show is from the small village of Abraq in Shalateen.

These amazing photos were taken by talented photographer Yasser El Rasoul.

Abraq is 130 kilometer away from city of Shalateen in the North West.

Its people are from the Beja people ethnic. The Beja people are from the oldest ethnic groups in North Africa , it is enough to know that they used to fight along with the ancient Egyptians. Yes sir they are so old and so unique.

Now the village of Abraq is extremely poor as you can see in the photo , its main water source is that water well bearing the village name in the slide show “it looks amazing”. It is not about living in nomadic environment , it is about zero supplies and utilities. The people of Arbaq work mainly in pasture but some of them go to the mounts searching for coal in order to trade it with food especially Wheat in Shalateen main market.

What I say in this post is based upon the testimonies of the young humanitarians that went there and saw what they were not prepared for.

Amazingly the people there are content and they do not ask for more. They also are not angry from the valley or from the State that it neglected them.

The Egyptian Food Bank and Resala helped the people of Abraq before , there are also independent youth mostly from Islamists organizing food and medical supplies caravans.

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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Egyptian Life, photos, Red Sea, Society, Sudan | No comments

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Strike4Sudan : The Sudanese Won't give up

Posted on 10:31 by Unknown
You may think that things have calmed down in Sudan after two weeks of protesting against El Bashir , you may think that Sudanese gave up quickly. Well they did not give up and they know that this is just the start in a path that will end up with freeing Sudan from the iron fist that dictatorship they were cursed with. 

Sudanese activists have started since yesterday a 5 days hunger strike. Yes 5 days hunger strike for those specific demands.
  1. Release of all political detainees.
  2. Bringing those responsible for the killing of protesters to justice and allowing people to demonstrate without fear of detention or use of force. 
  3. Freedom of expression and allowing journalists to resume their role and lift the bans on newspapers.
You can follow the updates of the strike4Sudan in this blog. 
Also this blog "Sudan Martyrs" follow the list of Sudanese martyrs fallen in the past weeks. 

You can follow the updates of the strike on the following hashtags on twitter : #Strike4Sudan and #اضراب_للسودان in Arabic
By the way I am so astonished on how the West has been silent on what was taking place in Sudan , was not Omar El Bashir a criminal wanted by the ICC !? Was not he wanted for his crimes in Darfur !? Is not he a dictator ? I know that there is an iron curtain when it comes to media inside Sudan but this is too much. 

This video below is Mosireen Collective production about Sudan. It is Arabic and has not been yet translated. It is called "Revolution continues ..Sudan".Please share it.
I am shocked to see such footage now especially when it comes to the massacres in Nuba mounts !!

Indeed Revolution does not only continues but it grows day after day
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Posted in Africa, Arab, Citizen Journalism, Democracy, Human rights, Media, Politics, Regional, Sudan, Video | No comments

Wednesday, 16 October 2013

We Have Been the Biggest Losers from Long Time

Posted on 11:55 by Unknown
Yesterday Egypt lost in front of Ghana in the World Cup qualifiers and since then millions of Egypt are mourning the loss of the game in a great grief as if it were the end of the world with no regards to all the losses in all fields of life we shamefully produced in the past 31 years.
It is really ironic and quite sad to see people on TV and social media are extremely demanding enthusiastically the accountability of the Egyptian Football federation’s officials and the team more than the accountability of the Egyptian government officials responsible for setting back Egypt in every bloody field in life.
From Brazil's protests
As facts of life 40% of Egyptians live under the poverty line and 25% of the Egyptians can not read or write according to official numbers in 2012. Our basic education system is considered the worst worldwide according to the world competiveness report in 2013 !! We do not have real scientific research in Egypt , our universities hit rock bottom. We got an energy crisis . We got an unemployment crisis. We got traffic problem and housing problem aside from the shanty towns that can kill millions if we have another 1992 powerful earthquake in Cairo alone.
We live on loans from other countries. We are number no.1 in Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B is spread as well in Upper Egypt. There are hundreds of villages completely forgotten with no clean water access or electricity access in 2013.We got a Nile river crisis everybody forgets. We got a Constitution in making everybody is ignoring. We got laws against the right of protesting made and sent it to the interim president and everybody is ignoring it. Freedoms in Egypt are in real danger in Egypt and yet people care only for a football match score.
I am sorry dear follow Egyptians we have been the biggest losers from long time.
It is not a big secret that the football is one of types of the masses’ opium in Egypt , it is not a big secret and nobody can be denied that from time it is being employed in politics as usual since the days of Mubarak.
If you speak to the people , they will tell that the match and the hope to join the world cup was the only joy that brings hope in those hard times. What I see here that we have mastered the art of escaping from our problems hiding in trivia !! It is no longer passion about sports but a sign of failure.
Ironically and sadly we even ignore other sports that we do not spend on from our public budget lots and lots of money like football , we score good in those sports. Our Egyptian basketball has been qualified for the Basketball world cup in Spain but most Egyptians ignore.
God knows how this match was being employed politically by the Muslim brotherhood supporters  who did not hide how they supported Ghana “they travelled there and held the Raba’a signs” and their opponents from Pro-Military supporters who believe that the defeat was a world conspiracy implemented by the American Zionist spy Bradley who is cooperating with the Muslim brotherhood in order to make us lose the march.
Some of those people believe that Bradley is a spy that should be prosecuted and Mohamed Abu El Tarika brought with him some MB women who put some thing that drugged the players !!  Those some want Adly Mansour to issue presidential decrees arresting Abu El Tarika and all other traitors in the Football federation !!
For the record Abu El Tarika is the one who scored for Egypt in that silly match.
By the way some people including the lawyers syndication in Egypt “its head is a member in the Constitution committee” that is demanding the FIFA and CAF to cancel the match as well its result and have new one !!
There are even people “Ultra-Conspiracy theorists” like infamous Sameh Abu Al Rayas who believe that the Pro-Mubarak forces in Egypt saved the day and made Egypt lose in the match to save Egypt from an evil plan to use football match in order to reinstate El Sisy , the freemason as a president but Mubarak saved the day and scored in Egypt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Side note: Knowing how much hate and violence as well madness in Egypt now I am truly concerned about footballer Mohamed Abu Terika and his safety. I fear of some Andres Escobar scenario to be honest in Cairo especially Abu Terika reminds of the late Colombian star.
The Muslim brotherhood supporters are saying that the loss of the match was actually a punishment of God for the people who were silent on the murders of thousands in the past few months and the Mubarak supporters are crying on his days and how we were the Masters of Africa in football !!!!!
Ironically part of our loss yesterday is the arrogance and how we think that we are better than the rest of the Africans because you know… we are the master of the universe and world power unlike those Africans !!!!
Seriously speaking we had no chance to be honest in the World cup , just look to the ages of our players and the ages of Ghana’s team , just look how no one paid an effort yesterday to play football for real to deserve to be in the world cup
For God sake one of our footballers returning back from Ghana stated that he believed that there was sort of African black magic used in the game to paralyze the Egyptian players !! Yes this is what a footballer aspiring to get qualified to the World Cup in 2013 believes !!
We lost the football match and we will not be able to go to Brazil , we will not have another chance for the upcoming 4 years. May be there is a hidden bless the MB supporters do not see that people may wake up and say the problems we have got.
Yes we got real problems than a bloody match.
Amazingly the Egyptians especially the politicians do not want to learn from the Brazilian model in democratic transition.
Brazilians are now furious on their government is focusing on the World Cup and preparations for Olympics ignoring education , health sector and I will not say anything more.
By the way Egypt is playing in the streets kids world cup in 2014 insh Allah. Yes the streets kids made it and nobody is paying attention.
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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Democracy, Egypt, Media, Society, South America, Sports | No comments

Friday, 27 September 2013

#Sudan_Revolts : It is Martyrs Friday “Graphic”

Posted on 07:47 by Unknown

It is Friday and people started to protest against El Bashir regime while facing his security forces and their weapons bravely as usual. This is the fourth day the Sudanese head to the street protesting not only now against the lift of subsidies but against the massacre that took place in the country.

There are lots of development going on in Sudan and I am afraid our sources of updates on the ground are Netizens.Luckily for us the internet has not been cut yet by the government. Some sources say that some foreign “Mainly Western” embassies expressed their concern on how the internet was cut from two ago. Ironically and sadly enough the government officials are claiming that the protesters were the ones who sabotaged the internet lines in the country !!

Here is a photo gallery for the protests

The Sheikhs and preachers in the mosques in Sudan today spoke about the bad saboteurs and their bad protests. In some areas especially in Omdurman the mosques have been closed. The shops and markets are closed once again. The protests are now in Omdurman , White Nile , Al Jazeera and Khartoum as well North Kordofan. Here is a UShahadi map with the protests in Sudan.

Now there are reports coming from Omdurman and other major cities that security forces are using live ammunition and tear gas grenades. There are martyrs falling down by hour.

Nevertheless the protests are not stopping. Some of the chants the protesters are saying “People wants to topple the regime” , “Freedom , Freedom” down with the military rule”. Nile river unity rocks.

Sudan : Freedom , Freedom and The people want to topple the regime.

Here is a video showing the security forces firing at protesters.

Sudan : Firing at protesters

A video for the protests

Sudan : More protests
Sudan : Opening fire on the protesters

Another graphic video showing one of the protesters after being shot in the protests.

The Sudanese regime detained the Al Arabiya TV channel reporter there for a while then released him and closed its office there. Sheikh Youssef Qaradawy sent a message to El Bashir reminding him that he is an Islamist and he should not do what the regimes in Syria and Egypt !! Ironically the renowned Sheikh forgot the war crimes committed by that Islamist president against humans including Muslims in Darfur !!

Anonymous has hacked the Youth ministry website. The UN issued a statement condemning the killing of the protesters.

Again Sudan is cursed by the worst type religious backed up military regime. It will take some time to topple it. This is another step towards removing this rotten corrupted regime.

I believe that Sudan has not seen protests like this from very long time.

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Posted in Africa, Arab, Citizen Journalism, Democracy, Human rights, Media, photos, Politics, Sudan, Video | No comments

Thursday, 26 September 2013

#SudanRevolts : Returning Back online , Returning Back to Streets #Abena

Posted on 12:43 by Unknown

From two hours ago the internet is back to Sudan and with it news are pouring from there and they are not good. It seems that yesterday was a night of hell.

According to the photos , videos and testimonies of eye witnesses online Omdurman has witnessed a massacre. Officially the government is saying that 27 only were killed while activists and opposition movements say that over 130 protesters including women and children have been killed in the past 48 hours. Hundreds are transferred to hospitals every hour as far I could tell from the tweets and updates I read on Facebook. The director of Omdurman hospital was arrested after speaking to the media.

The tragedies continue and activists are reporting that the Omdurman morgue refuses to let the families to bury their relatives except when they sign papers that those relatives are thugs and criminals. In fact it is much worse to know that there are racism in it , light Skin Sudanese protesters are considered thieves while the dark skin Sudanese protesters are considered murderers in the eyes of the bloody El Bashir regime. 

The photos from Omdurman hospital gives you the impression that there was an actually massacre going on in the city. “Warning : Extremely graphic”

It was like a déjà vu of January 28 ,2011 in Egypt where the regime’s forces and security thugs unleashed a night of horror that ended at about 5 AM. Tweeps are reporting that protesters arrested security agents wearing civilian cloths trying to break an ATM. The people there are also saying that those security agents aka thugs go and set fires at the fuel stations.

For the third day in row protests continue not only in the cities Khartoum and Omdurman but in other areas as well including North Kordofan , Al Jazeera and Port Sudan. The protests are still going despite the crackdown. People are extremely angry. They are holding night protests.

Shops and markets are closed . The streets are deserted in some areas in Khartoum. Some areas there reportedly suffer from bread shortage. In some cities angry protesters have blocked the roads.

It is serious as it seems El Bashir cancelled his visit to the UNGA , some say that he is afraid from the warrant on his head but personally I believe it is not only the warrant. He is afraid of further developments in Sudan as well.

Interestingly the Sudanese minister of defense interrupted his visit to Jeddah and returned back to Khartoum earlier today. I do not know if he is going to pull a Sisi move considering that he was visiting the Kingdom that is vowing to bring the Muslim brotherhood everywhere or what.

I will not speak much because now we got material coming from Sudan after a crazy night.

Here is a footage taken from TV channel “I do no know which one” showing the security forces using live ammunition.

Sudan : Security forces shooting protesters.

Here is another video showing the protests in Omdurman yesterday.

Protests in Omdurman yesterday.

Here is another graphic video showing a protester shot down.

Tomorrow the Sudanese are planning for big protests. You know our Fridays in the Arab world as you know. There are strong rumors that the Sudanese regime is going to cut off the internet in the country for the upcoming 48 hours.

Protests are planned right after the Friday prayers. I see now online statements from political groups with demands like completely accountability for those responsible of the killing of the protesters and lowering the prices of the commodities. I have not seen the famous demand of forcing the president to step down.

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Posted in Africa, Arab, Citizen Journalism, Democracy, Economy, Human rights, Media, photos, Politics, Sudan, Video | No comments

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

#SudanRevolts : The Sudanese are doing it again “Graphic”

Posted on 12:03 by Unknown
I am already taking some time off away from the blog and social media altogether yet I am forced to return back with all the developments taking place right now in Sudan.
For two days now protests are rocking the Sudanese cities especially in Khartoum and its surrounding suburbs. Protesters set the headquarters of the ruling party “NCP” on fire as well some police stations and checkpoints after they were attacked by security forces that did not hesitate in live ammunition.
Late Hazaa
As usual the peaceful angry protests are met with violent crack down. The latest numbers we got at 21 have been killed and hundreds have bee injured. The fatalities are caused by live ammunition fired by security forces. Updated : Numbers are jumping as eye witnesses are telling Girifana that Omdurman hospital’s morgue got at least 30 bodies while another witness told the famous political group that he saw 17 dead bodies at a police station in the area.
Not less than 1500 protesters have been arrested in the protests in the past 48 hours.
Updated @11:41 Cairo Local time :
 According to some estimation the death toll in Omdurman has become 73 at least. Some say even bigger numbers.
The students are playing role in this uprising especially in high schools and universities as far as I understand. One of the young student martyrs whose picture is shared online earlier was Hazaa Jafaar who was killed yesterday. Today the Sudanese security forces attacked his funeral by tear gas grenades." I have seen this before in Egypt , same tactics and same moves”
The protests erupted after the government’s decision to raise the fuel prices by 75%.
Now as Omar El Bashir is stupid as other dictators like Mubarak, the Sudanese regime  cut the internet off the country for several hours
The internet was cut off Sudan for 2 hours starting from 1 PM to 3 PM then it returned back for only 10 minutes then it was cut off again since then and returned back at 9:52 PM Cairo local time for short time and again it is cut !!
Here is a diagram showing how the internet is completely cut off in Sudan earlier. 
Five private TV channels were also shut down temporarily but they are back on air according to Girifna “We fed up” group. Please follow this group on Facebook to get the latest updates from Sudan. Here is its twitter account. 
Also follow those hashtags for live updates from Sudan : #SudanRevolts and #Abena “We reject"
A TV host called Salafa Abadafeera was arrested for criticizing the crackdown.The Sudanese Journalists Network announces a general strike follow the prevention of newspapers from publishing tomorrow according to journalist Ashraf Ghalay.
It is not all about the fuel prices in Sudan , this is an accumulated anger and if you remember last year the Sudanese revolted but their revolt was dispersed violently. Through the year Sudanese activists have been reporting of the human rights violations committed by Omar El Bashir’s regime against Sudanese citizens and the activists.
The fuel prices are like the last straw.
I would like to hint out that El Bashir’s regime is the worst mix of regimes ever : Religious+military regime in one shot !!
There is no enough media coverage and I think this is what El Bashir holds on keeping an iron curtain for real in Sudan. Foreign correspondents are not that free to move around with cameras , in fact I got two friends who used to work as  foreign correspondents in Sudan but were kicked out from there for doing their job.
Anyhow here is a photo gallery for the protests yesterday.

Here is also also a storify photo gallery showing the protests in the past 48 from social media. Not much though.
Now here is a video clip allegedly filmed today.
 Here is another video clip. I do not know when it was filmed but it was uploaded today before the internet cut.
Another graphic video showing a student shot down and killed by security forces.


Post by ‎اللجنة السودانية بالخليج لدعم ثورة التغيير‎.
There is no enough media coverage for what is happening in Sudan for real.
Before the internet was cut , some protests were live broadcasted shortly on Bambuser.
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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Democracy, Economy, Human rights, photos, Politics, Sudan, Video | No comments

Monday, 9 September 2013

And This is Why #Egypt Needs A Real Revolution

Posted on 13:30 by Unknown
The world economic forum issued its annual Global Competitiveness index for year 2013 –2014 . Read it and you will know how Egypt needs a real revolution in every aspect in order to survive this ongoing world race.
First here is the ranking of the Middle East countries arranged  “as well other countries I found interesting in the report” as they appear in the report.
Country Rank “Out of 148” Score “1-7” Rank among “2012-2013” economies GCI “2012-2013”
Qatar 13 5.24 13 11
UAE 19 5.11 19 24
KSA 20 5.10 20 18
Israel 27 4.94 27 26
Oman 33 4.64 33 32
Kuwait 36 4.56 36 37
Bahrain 43 4.45 43 35
Turkey 44 4.45 44 43
Jordan 68 4.20 68 64
Iran 82 4.07 81 66
Tunisia 83 4.06 n/a n/a
Algeria 100 3.79 98 110
Lebanon 103 3.77 101 91
Libya 108 3.73 106 113
Egypt 118 3.63 115 107
Mauritania 141 3.19 137 134
Yemen 145 2.98 140 140
Chad 148 2.85 143 139
Here is an info graph for the top ten Arab countries in the report. Of course all of them are rich oil gulf states.
Click in to zoom in "World economic forum"
Nevertheless you will find Israel after Qatar, UAE and KSA in the ranking when it has no oil.
Here is also an info graph about top ten Sub Saharan African countries.
Click to zoom in
Shamelessly Egypt comes in the 118th rank. It went down from 115 in 2012-2013 to 118 in 2013-2014. We used to be in the 94th rank in 2011-2012.
Here is what is written about Egypt in the report itself :
Egypt drops by 11 positions to reach 118th place  in this year’s GCI. This assessment is likely influenced by the country’s continued transition since the events of the Arab Spring. The deteriorating security situation and tenacious political instability are undermining the country’s competitiveness and its growth potential going forward. Although resolving political friction needs to remain the priority as this Report goes to print, many of the underlying factors that will be decisive about the sustainability of the country and the cohesion of the society over the medium to longer term are economic in nature. Establishing confidence through a credible and far-reaching reform program will be vital to the country’s future and to realizing the considerable potential of the country’s large market size and proximity to key global markets. According to the GCI, three areas are of particular importance. First, the macroeconomic environment has deteriorated over recent years to reach 140th position mainly because of widening
fiscal deficit, rising public indebtedness, and persisting inflationary pressures. A credible fiscal consolidation plan, accompanied by structural reforms, will be necessary in order to maintain macroeconomic stability in the country. This may prove difficult in times of rising energy prices, as energy subsidies account for a considerable share of public expenditure. However, better targeting of subsidies could allow for fiscal
consolidation while protecting the most vulnerable. Second, measures to intensify domestic competition would result in efficiency gains and contribute to energizing the economy by providing access to new entrants. This, in turn, would make the country’s private sector more dynamic, thereby contributing to job creation. And third, making labor markets flexible (141st) and more efficient (145th) would allow the country to increase employment in the medium term.

There is no doubt that we are paying the price of the political changes in Egypt as the report says “turmoil”. Still if you think about , we did not reach to this low ranking among other developing and poor countries in the world because of the past three years but rather because of the past 33 years especially when it comes to education.
Here are the scores of Egypt in the report, one thing for sure we are a big market.

Click to zoom in
The original 25 January Revolution erupted from two years ago because of the reasons that lead a country like Egypt to hit rock bottom like that , at least this is my case.
We do not have true political leaders or figures that even have got a vision to see Egypt as true leading power using our capabilities and sources. We are still living in the great slogans that “Egypt is the mother of the world” and “Egypt is the most independent nation in the history of the mankind” not to mention “The world is plotting against us” to the end of those nationalist slogans.
We need a balanced economic policies to ensure social justice and at the same time to improve the economy and encourage investments.
We should not depend only on tourism and Suez canal as main sources of income. I am not an economic expert but I know true economic development will be achieved if we have true political reforms that support transparency and accountability.
Needless to say,I do not know if the people really want democracy , accountability and transparency anymore in Egypt. 
God does not help the fool nor the lazy but we continue to believe that God won’t let us down. Well the problem is that we are the ones who let ourselves down over and over as people with our choices.
Here is the full report in PDF.
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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Economy, Egypt, Gulf, International, Maghreb, Numbers, Politics, Post Revolution, Society | No comments

Friday, 5 July 2013

#Egypt : The First Friday After #Morsi

Posted on 05:28 by Unknown
This is the first Friday after the ousting of President Morsi. We woke up on Egyptian air forces’ air jets breaking the silence of Cairo and Giza’s skies with its thunder sound after a long and sad night of fighting in Sinai. Today lots of things are happening in Egypt and thus the Storify live blog is back. As usual after the break.
I will try to write something analytical later.
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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Egyptian Army, Media, photos, Politics, Post Revolution, Video | No comments

Thursday, 20 June 2013

Refugees Day 2013 in #Egypt : More Challenges Than ever

Posted on 16:40 by Unknown
The world celebrated yesterday the Refugees Day on June 20th.
I think in Egypt the refugees file is getting heavier and bigger everyday and yet the government and the mainstream media are both ignoring the refugees issues in Egypt.
DSC04096
Baby Nour born in September 2012 in Egypt
We got the Syrian refugees file in Egypt. The last number I have heard from very trusted sources in the UNCHR that we are getting closer to 100,000. We got clusters and communities from Syria in Cairo , Giza, Damietta and Alexandria as well in other areas like in Al Arish as I have known recently. “Small number of families”. The Syrian communities in October city and in New Cairo are like Mini-Syria now with families from all over the sad country. From different areas, different classes and different ethnics as well from different political backgrounds you will find in Egypt. We got new born babies who open their eyes in Cairo and Giza instead of Damascus and Homs.
Some Egyptians began to complain that Syrians began to take their jobs and to cause a hike in the prices of houses in Egypt. It is just sad because actually I know that Syrians are not competing Egyptians over jobs at least two incidents I heard of Syrians refused to take jobs from Egyptians so the Egyptians will not be harmed. Regarding the crazy prices of houses in Egypt , well if it were not for the greedy contractors and brokers Syrians and Egyptians would not suffer from mad prices. Syrian families are suffering from these crazy prices as well. They can not coupe with our prices easily especially in those hard times in Egypt.
By the way I think I hinted out before that the Syrian refugees are going to be harmed from President Morsi’s decision. Well many Syrian activists have raised this point. The Syrian refugees need their embassy to facilitate their documents. By the way if Morsi’s regime is so supportive to Syrians why several Syrian refugees were deported and faced death in Damascus in the past months !?
I must say that when it comes to the Syrian refugees in Egypt , I can not ignore the effort of the Syrian community in Egypt in the past two years in order to make their people comfortable in their second home nor can I ignore the Egyptian activists who are helping the Syrian families as much as they can.
Despite the challenge the UNCHR is facing as well our crazy times in Egypt , I believe things are not that bad thank goodness.
We got the African refugees whether from Sudan or Eretria or South Sudan to Ethiopia. Recently with the Nile crisis the Ethiopian refugees are paying the price unfortunately in Egypt now. The Ethiopian refugees from Oromo People are suffering from mistreatment sadly enough. This is unacceptable.
Of course no one wants to speak for real about what is happening to the African refugees in Sinai. It is another taboo. I do not understand why no one is trying to tackle it from local press. Only foreign media speaks about the agony and the horror the African refugees face in Sinai. We are speaking here about human trafficking.
Moving to the Palestinian refugees , well the Palestinian refugees who came fled Syria need help yet the amazing Morsi’s regime is not helping them despite all the so-called support to Palestinian cause.
By the way here is a short clip I filmed in Fadel Island , Egypt’s biggest gathering for Palestinian refugees in Egypt since 1948 for an old man there describing how they came on camels.
Fadel Island : We came on camels from Palestine.
This is a quick round for this important day in Egypt.
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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Human rights, Palestine, Politics, Syria, Video | No comments

Sunday, 16 June 2013

Cairo University’s report on Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam

Posted on 15:31 by Unknown

The Cairo University professors and experts in the faculties of engineering and agriculture have formed a group called “Group of Nile Basin” {GNB} and this group prepared extremely important report about the Ethiopia’s great Renaissance Dam.
The report was published in Arabic on Facebook by Dr. Nader Noor El Din , a member of the GNB and it was republished once again by famous Kolena Khaled Said Page.
Thanks to Mr. Ashraf El Shehat  , this report has been translated to English. Without his help I do not know what I could have done.  This report represents the Egyptian objections based on science not based on politics or any other thing.


Group of Nile Basin (GNB) at Cairo University to Support Egypt



Introduction


A series of external challenges have suddenly appeared on the surface forming major threats to securing the water supply to Egypt.  The sources of these threats are the new plans by the Ethiopian Government to construct four dams on the Blue Nile (Figure 1). 

However, the major threat was the sudden unilateral announcement of the Ethiopian Government to divert the course of the Blue Nile marking the actual start of construction of the Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) without consultation with the downstream countries; Egypt and Sudan.  This act in the eyes of the majority of Egyptians amounts to a flagrant assault on all the basic fundamental laws and the international norms.
Figure 1- Plan of construction four new dams in Ethiopia endangers the only water supply to Egypt.
Considering the major threat to the people of Egypt, a group of professors from the Department of Irrigation and Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University formed a group titled “The Group of the Nile Basin” (GNB).  The purpose of the group is to support the effort of Government and the decision makers facing these serious escalating water threats.  The scope of GNB shall include analytical studies of the Ethiopian Dams, prepare and implement numerical water models to study the side effects of these dams and collecting all recent scientific studies in this field.


The GNB Activities


The members of the GNB include – among others - four Professors who were involved and still directly involved in the review studies of the Ethiopian Dams and assessing their effects in cooperation with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MERI) since the year 2010.  The GNB shall be also working closely with both the National and International Committees involved in studying the consequences of the construction of GERD.
On 16th April 2013, the GNB has conducted two workshops at Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University about the technical, political and legal consequences of constructing the GERD.  The attendees included numerous University Professors and Experts in different fields of specializations.  Representatives of MERI, some Political Parties, management of Engineering Syndicate in addition to numerous media channels.  The purpose of the workshops was to spread the awareness among the people and the Government bodies about the challenges and threats facing the country.
The last few days have witnessed a series of escalating and accelerating steps adding to the tensions including the unilateral decision of Ethiopia to divert the Blue Nile, and the subsequent objections of some of the Egyptian Politicians during an aired meeting with the President.  On 13th of June 2013, the Ethiopian Parliament ratified the Nile River Cooperative Framework Agreement opposed by Egypt which ends the veto granted to both Egypt and Sudan on all projects constructed by the upstream countries of the Nile Basin.


Major Comments from the Trio Committee


An international committee – called the Trio Committee – was formed based on the proposal of the Ex. Ethiopian Prime Minister M. Zenawei about two years ago to reduce the tension.  The committee concluded its work that took around a year and half and issued its report on the review of the studies presented by the Ethiopian Government.  The trio committee consisted of 10 members; 2 from each of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and four international experts approved by the three countries.  The committee has recently concluded its review and issued its report with the following conclusions:

  1. There are no sufficient structural studies.

  2. There is a lack in the hydrological investigations.

  3. There are no environmental impact assessments on the two downstream countries; Egypt and Sudan.


In addition, the Ethiopian Government failed to submit advanced studies reflecting the details and reliability analysis to meet the minimum requirements of the international standards for similar size of dams.  Such lack in information and the weakness of the studies formed an obstacle in enabling the Trio Committee to assess the structural safety of the dam and the negative impacts on both Egypt and Sudan.
 


Areas of Concern to be considered by the Egyptian Government


The GNB draws the attention of the members of the Egyptian Government to the consequences of the Ethiopian Dams which constitute a series of tough social, economical and political nature that are hard to be controlled or to tolerate.  Some of these consequences are:

  1. The plan for the 4 dams on the Blue Nile aims at total control of the water in the Blue Nile which is the main supplier to the Nile.  As such, this plan shall subsequently include total control of the share of Egypt’s share of the water in the Nile and the possible redundancy or at least dwarfing the role of the High Dam in securing the future supply of water to Egypt.

  2. The current design capacity of GERD of 74 Billion cubic meter will have harsh negative impact on the share of the water reaching to Egypt and also on the production of electricity from the High Dam and the Aswan Dam during the filling period of the lake of GERD and during its operation.  This negative impact shall escalate during the drought period wherein the water supplies to both Egypt and Sudan shall conflict with the water needed to produce the electricity from the GERD.

  3. Reduction in the water share of Egypt will result in abandoning huge areas of agricultural lands and scattering millions of families.  It would also result in increasing the pollution of the water streams and creating problems in the supply of water for drinking and industry.  There will also be problems in river transportation, Nile tourism and threats to the fish farms.

  4. Collapse of GERD will result in catastrophic effects in both Sudan and Egypt.  This includes failures of dams, drowning of major towns and villages and exposing millions to the dangers of death and relocation.



Target of Negotiation: Mitigate the Damage


Basically, it should be understood that negotiation with Ethiopia has been drastically delayed.  The ideal target for the negotiation from Egypt’s point of view would be to prevent constructing the dam.  However, this is no longer a valid option considering the current circumstances.  Ethiopia has managed to place the dam as a fact and no longer a theory.  As such, the purpose of the negotiation at this stage would be aiming at mitigating the damages.  
Considering the above, the following are the suggestions:

  1. Request stopping the construction at once until completing the negotiation and assess the effects through scientific means and agree on them.  We need to highlight here that there are other alternatives that can be studied to fulfill similar advantages to Ethiopia without causing major damages to the downstream countries.

  2. The minimum requirement for the Egyptian Government should be the maximum size of the Dam not to exceed 14 billion cubic meter as per the proposal prior to the January 2011 Revolution.  This capacity would enable producing 60% of the proposed electricity from GERD and with efficiency exceeding double the efficiency of the huge GERD and with much less cost and much less negative impacts that can be lived with.  In addition, the proposed design of 14 cubic meters would fulfill most of the advantages of Sudan from GERD and as such, unifies the points of views of both Egypt and Sudan.

  3. Ethiopia to commit officially not to use the water behind the GERD for the agricultural purposes as previously announced.

  4. Ethiopia to commit for the advance notice for any future projects including their executing procedure in light of the Framework Agreement of the United Nations of 1977 for the common rivers.

  5. The design of the GERD to be reviewed thoroughly by Egyptian Experts after amending the technical dimensions to ensure its structural safety.


The GNB further urges all non-specialized personnel to avoid getting into issuing irresponsible statements that justify the illusionary benefits of the GERD, issuing statements with no real value, or statements that may underestimate the serious side effects using unfounded methods.  All the positive and negative impacts are actually a result of intensive, thorough and specialized engineering investigations.  Some of these investigations have been carried out be the members of GNB and some are still being conducted.  The results at this stage agree broadly with the international studies and to some extent with the Ethiopian studies presented to the International Trio Committee, even though the latter are incomplete.
Main Focus: Downsizing
We would like to warn the Government not to limit the scope of negotiation to secondary issues and ignore the major problem; the size of the dam.  The people in Egypt should be aware that focusing the negotiation on the number of years to fill the lake of the dam or the operation policy of the dam including participating with the operation of the dam are of no prime importance.  The major threat is the result of the magnified size of the dam.  Without reducing the dimensions of the dam itself, the major negative impacts as indicated above are unavoidable.
It is not a secret that throughout the history, Egypt has never been an obstacle preventing the development in the African Nations in general and the countries of the Nile Basin in particular.  Egypt has always been supporting the projects of common benefits to the people of the Nile Basin including building Owen Dam for the benefit of both Uganda and Kenya, has shown no objection for building Tecjizy Dam and Tana Plus Tunnel in Ethiopia, and also has not objected the building of Marwe Dam or increasing the height of Roserus Dam in Sudan.  All of these projects and others help to improve the revenue of the brothers and sisters of the African Nations.  Egypt has always maintained and is willing to keep the Nile as a uniting force for the people of the nations and not a source of disperse or dispute.  Egypt is willing to maintain the Nile basin to remain an oasis for peace  and not a battlefield.


Members of the GNB



  1. Mohamed N. E. Allam – Ex. Minister of Water Resources & Irrigation

  2. Mohamed S Bazarah – Prof. of Irrigation and Drainage

  3. Alaa Al-Zawahry – Prof. of Hydraulic and expert of dams and member of the National Committee of GERD.

  4. Mohamed S. El-Manadily – Prof. of Hydraulics – Chairman of Department of Irrigation and Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.

  5. Nader Nour Eddin – Prof. of Water Supplies and Lands, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University

  6. Ahmad E. Hasan – Prof. of Hydrology, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.

  7. Khaled H Hamid, Prof. of Wter Supplies, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University – Member of the Trio Committee

  8. Ashraf M Ghanim, Prof. of Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.

  9. Mostafa A Gheith, Pro.f of Irrigation & Drainage, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.

  10. Mohamed H Algamal, Prof. of Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.

  11. Hesham B Mohamed, Prof. of Water Supplies, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.  Member of the National Committee to study GERD.

  12. Mohame E Abol Hagag, Prof. of Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.





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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Environment, Follow Up, Geek, National Security, Politics | No comments

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

A Reader’s Reply From #Egypt to Open Letter From #Ethiopia

Posted on 01:46 by Unknown

I got this short reply from dear friend Dr. Ahmed Abdel Kawi to the open letter Egyptian Chronicles got from Ethiopia and published on this blog. Abdel Kawi’s reply is short and is addressing specific points.

Dear Sir

Thank you for your letter. Regarding first myth:please calculate total annual water income of Ethiopia and the annual income of Egypt,you will find that water input to your country is much than Egypt.Please don't describe situation as if Egypt is depriving Ethiopia from water. Regarding second myth,let's leave it to the law experts to solve,we are taking actions aiming to solve such issue. Regarding third myth,we are afraid that after building the dam,some one may destroy it,the water flowing will reach Egypt within a month and destroy our dam,thus ending in flooding Egypt. Finally dear sir we hope to negotiate with your people for best interest of our countries.

I have also to comment and say that if we want to reach to Win-Win situation then we have to forget our nationalist chauvinism. Also if we want to act in a mature way , we have to listen to the experts and their decisions as a start for true negotiations.

We do not have problem with dams on the Nile contrary to what is being portrayed in the Ethiopian media , in fact we agreed and helped African countries like Sudan in previous projects. Our objection on the renaissance dam or to be accurate its current specifications from water capacity as well the material used in its construction. Dr. Ahmed spoke about those two points.
Our objections are not related to our Egyptian dignity heavens forbid but rather are based upon the trilateral International commission to study the effects of the dam’s report. This commission included experts and scientists from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan as well foreign independent experts. I do not ask much when I urge the Ethiopians to check this report and to see our true objections.

The commission said that Ethiopian government did not cooperate as it should disclosing some of the important reports needed. We need those reports in order to make sure that the dam will harm us because according to the data we have got from the Ethiopian government itself it will harm Egypt.

Only yesterday the PM of Egypt admitted the fact that from 5 years we are suffering from Water poverty.

Just look to our map and you will release that Nile is truly our life source. We know very well that we do not own the Nile and we know that for the past 30 years we did not treat our African neighbors in the South as we should or as we used to during the 1960s.

I still believe in negotiations and reaching win-win situation , this is the only way.

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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Environment, Follow Up, Letter from the editor, National Security, Politics | No comments

Monday, 10 June 2013

Morsi Speaks To #Ethiopia and #June30 Supporters as Well

Posted on 13:49 by Unknown
Today Islamist political parties held some so-called popular meeting to discuss the Nile river crisis including the Freedom and Justice Party. Those parties invited President Morsi to that meeting and he addressed the Nation.
There was not a real discussion for the Nile crisis as much it was obvious replica conference from the days of Mubarak and the NDP. The exact sign but with a religious touch. I will not comment on the fact that Islamist parties mobilized its members from governorates as far as Bani Sawif to attend the conference in Cairo and to stand outside the Conference halls in Nasr City. I will not comment either on the banners the supporters of Morsi held like “We love you President” and “The goals of the revolution have been achieved”. I will not comment on what happened on the beginning of the conference. I will go straight to the main event of Morsi’s speech.
The speech is two parts : One that deals with Ethiopia and the Nile Dam and the other deals with Egyptian opposition.
The first part that deals with Ethiopia Morsi presented the good cop/bad cop in not so good way. Speaking in escalating and confident tune , Morsi declared that “All options are available” asserting over and over that our Water’s security is a red line that we will not accept to give up a single drop from it.
If a single Nile’s drop from our share is lost , our blood will be the cost.
He said those words after quoting a verses from Abdel Wahab’s song “Immortal river” earning him a standing ovation. He also said that Whoever thinks that Egyptians are busy with their internal challenges is delusional and that we are the soldiers of God. Using this language in confidence is not good because on the other side I know that some Ethiopians consider themselves as soldiers of God.
Anyhow after those indirect threats Morsi pulled back the Good cop insisting that we do not want any harm to Sudan or Ethiopia and that we are not against any development projects unless those projects harm our water shares. He also stated that we are have talks with Ethiopia and our relations are getting better than back in the old Mubarak days.
It is as if Morsi was trying to pull Nasser, Sadat and Yasser Arafat at the same time.Either Morsi is bluffing or he got intelligence backing up him to escalate in this way especially that his ministers are heading to both Sudan and Ethiopia. Already Ethiopia is heading in it plans and Sudan is supporting. Either he knows what he is doing or he is playing with fire in order to cover his internal political failures. Most observers believe he is trying to hide the internal political failures.
I think you probably know that Egyptian revolutionary and political powers and parties are organizing a mass protests day and are hoping to withdraw confidence from president Morsi on the anniversary of his election victory. Well Morsi is using the Nile Crisis in a way to lure the opposition forces calling them for national reconciliation as “there is no time for differences in Egypt now” according to him.
You must know that leaks in press that there is a trend in the presidency aka El Shater’s men to give up some concessions for the opposition. Anyhow it is too late because Morsi and the Muslim brotherhood do not want to understand that the people not the opposition are the leading this wave of anger and rebellion due to their own fiascos. The opposition in Egypt actually can not keep up with the revolutionaries and the people.
By the way Morsi presented his condolences to the family of the Homeland security’s special forces officer Abu Shakra was killed/assassinated in Sinai described his murderers as terrorists. Today in the funeral of Abu Shakra , the police officers chanted against Morsi.
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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Egyptian Army, Follow Up, MB, Media, National Security, Nature, Politics | No comments

Sunday, 9 June 2013

Readers’ Chronicles : An Open Letter to Egyptians From #Ethiopia

Posted on 09:20 by Unknown
I do not think that I have done this before. This is an email I got from Ethiopia , from MR. Yared H.Meskel. 
I did not edit a single letter in the email. I am not going to comment about the open letter in the blog post , civilized discussions are extremely welcomed in comments section  
MR. Meskel is columnist and managing director in a technology and investment advisory consulting company in East Africa and UK.Dear Egyptians,
I think you politicians have been feeding false propaganda and the politicians have lived to believe their own propaganda. This propaganda has created three major myths in Egyptians mine.
One is Egypt own the Nile, second there was an international treaty, third, Ethiopia can block the water.
All are myth built up with no facts and lack of understanding basic scientific observations.
Here are the answers to think about.
1st. Egypt does not own the Nile. Nile belongs to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, and off course, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt. If Egypt thinks that it is only Egypt can drink from the Nile, and then take a hard look of the reality. You are receiving every day, clean, drinkable free from industrial toxic and fresh water everyday from these countries. If they do not benefit from the water they can send their wastes with it.

It is though fact that this is a shared resource and everyone has to invest and protect it to give fresh water to Egypt. The solution is to come back to the Nile initiative and negotiate to develop this shared resource together without losing your fare share. Ethiopia or Kenya cannot invest on the land and the forests which give to the life of Nile at great cost to become slaves to deliver drinkable water to Egyptians. In fact, Egypt should have been putting at list 2.5 billion USD/ half of the Ethiopian Dam cost, since it will serve as water reservoir for Egypt to design it in such a way that would not reduce the flow of the water.
Please don’t forget that 85% of the Nile water comes from Ethiopia and Ethiopia is not using so far 1% of the water while it's own people perish of starvation and drought  So there is no international or moral law that obliges Ethiopia to die of drought and thirst while Egyptians want to water their desert garden grass and lawn for European tourists or want to export it to Israel to earn cash. But still Ethiopia has no intention to reduce the flow, despite it’s cronic problems.
Abay/ Nile/ is a shared resource and the reality is to take time to understand the Ethiopian position. Sudan fully understand the Dam is beneficial for Sudan and Egypt. Despite internal public criticism Ethiopia has gone extra-mile to prove and reassure Egyptians by inviting and setting a joint expert committee that the hydroelectric dam does not at all affect the water flow. In fact it will increase the water flow in sustainable way, while the water is stored in deep gorge of Ethiopian cold highland by reducing huge evaporation, rather than flush it in to the Mediterranean see between June and October. This is science and I think Egyptians politicians need to pick their high school science books and revise it. A good number of Egyptian politicians appear to have (PhD) after their names and I guess they may have earned their degree in dramatics rhetoric than hard science.
Nile is Ethiopian as well as 9 African countries resource and Ethiopia need the hydropower as Egypt needs the water. The water moves a turbine and flow to Egypt and cannot come back or stored. Only demented politicians oppose building of hydroelectric power. If Ethiopia has intention to reduce the flow the dam would have been built where Irrigation is possible not where electricity could be generated. The fact is as simple as that and Egypt could have stopped it.
2. The second Egyptian myth is believing in non-existent treaty. Ethiopia had never been a British Colony like Egypt and British had no legal jurisdiction to sign any treaty in on behalf of Ethiopians. This is a basic logic. Egypt might have some debt with Kenya and Uganda but not with Ethiopia. Thanks to our forefathers, Ethiopians have fought all colonial forces at great cost and never surrendered to any mighty power. No one had signed on behalf of Ethiopia and no one will. Dying with freedom and dignity has been the ultimate privilege of all Ethiopians, who gave us this country. They died burned by poison gasses, tank shells and areal carpet bombing. Their crops burnt, their 2/3 of their cattle wiped out by biological warfare introduced by Italians and yet Ethiopians chose to die than surrender to anyone. As a result thanks God, we were not part of any treaty. We never signed anything and accepted any treaty. Hence, the fact is 85% of the Nile water had never been claimed by anyone and had never been part of any treaty. This is a fact casted on stones. Let’s the Egyptians politicians stop misinforming the Egyptian people and produce a single paper signed by Ethiopian or anyone who had legal jurisdiction over Ethiopia. Let them produce it and we are happy to honor it. So let’s clear this myth built on false propaganda.
3. The third myth is Ethiopia can stop Nile. If Egyptians politicians could Google, they could easily find enough scientific research data done by Egyptians that it is almost impossible for Ethiopia to stop the Nile flowing, without submerging a quarter of Ethiopia under water and turn themselves in to fish to survive. So it is time to separate ancient Egyptian myth from scientific data.
In fact, if there was an intention on Ethiopian side to reduce the water, there is no need to build a mega dam on the most rugged terrain of Ethiopia, where there is no land for irrigation. This is a gorge suitable for hydroelectric power and nothing else. If Ethiopia had intention to reduce the water it can instruct every village, to have a micro-dam on tributaries and flood plains. The fact that Ethiopia is building this huge dame close to the Sudan boarder means it is in its own interest to recharge the dam continuously to keep the power turbines moving. This is in fact a God given insurance for Egypt that the water will continue to flow to Egypt for eternity. If this dam is not built, then micro-dams are the alternative that would open the opportunity for utilization of water for other purposes too. So Egyptians politicians need to open their mind to see plan B, rather than getting carried away with myth creation and misinformation of the people.
So, please get tell your politicians to stop empty threat and bravado which is designed for internal consumption rather than dealing the real Egyptian real issue and the need for collaboration with Nile basin countries. Nile belongs to all of us, and it is enough for all of us. It is time for Egyptian politicians to come to the table and talk to the Africans who are delivering your drinking water everyday endlessly. Ethiopians, Kenyans, Ugandans, South Sudanese, Bruindies, etc. are united and the solution is not bullying but negotiation to have a win-win situation. That is upper countries use the water for power generation while Egypt continue to enjoy a free supply of clean, drinkable and life giving water from countries like Ethiopia and Kenya.
That is a win situation and the rest is more of a fantasy based on false assumption and myths. Egypt is not a superpower or a colonial master over Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda or South Sudan. A little bit of respect towards Africans is overdue.
In the last 20 years, there were more Egyptian investment in Ethiopia and we all thought that the old Egyptians politics is beginning to change to create some brotherhood with the African nations, but what we see from Egyptian politicians is old habits never die. Mubarak is may gone, but not his ideology.
Ethiopia has opened it door and files to Egyptians experts to examine every data that the dam does not affect the water flow. The good thing is the conclusion of these experts is clear that the dam has no impact on the flow of water. But Ethiopians gesture of brotherhood to take it’s file and plan for inspection has been taken for weakness by Egyptian politicians. Now if that is the perception then Ethiopia need to close it’s door and focus on its own plan till the Egyptian politicians learn to behave in civilized way and prepare to work with mutual respect and brotherhood.
Cooperation and win-win solution benefit all, and Egypt would be left out if its politicians believes their own myth and refuse to cooperate for our collective benefits.


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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Environment, Letter from the editor, Media, National Security, Nature | No comments

Thursday, 6 June 2013

#Nile Crisis : Sorry Is the Hardest word Indeed

Posted on 03:17 by Unknown
After the scandalous National dialogue aka War council held by Presidency , we found no reaction or no official apology from the Egyptian Presidency regarding the insults to Sudan and the threats to Ethiopia.
On Tuesday Mohamed ElBaradei apologized to both Sudan and Ethiopia 
Sincere apologies to the people and governments of Ethiopia & Sudan for the irresponsible utterances at the president's "national dialogue"
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) June 4, 2013

Of course this did not go quietly despite many Egyptians online respected what ElBaradei as veteran diplomat did . The Islamists unleashed a new verbal attack against the former head of the IAEA as usual.

اعتذار البرادعي لإثيوبيا تناقض جديد يضاف إلى قائمة طويلة سابقة من التناقضات ؛لم نسمع منك رأيا ولا شاركت في حوار يهم الوطن كله؛معارضة عرجاء1
— نادر بكار (@naderbakkar) June 4, 2013
The apology of ElBaradei to Ethiopia is a new contradiction added to his long list of contradictions , we have not heard any opinion from you nor did you ever participate in national dialogue , lame opposition. 
This was Salafist Al Nour party Spokesperson Nader Bakkar on his official twitter account.
Al Nour Party leader Younis Makhioun suggested that Islamist militants could give Ethiopia hard times and we can escalate the matter to the level of having a covert operation to demolish the dam.It is worth to mention that Al Nour party has been actively marketing itself abroad to the West as a good replacement to the Muslim brotherhood.

من اعتذر لاثيوبيا عما بدر من وطنيين أقلقهم تهديد حقوقنا القانونبة في مباه التبل ارجو لو قدم اعتذرا لوطنه لانه لم بشعر بالعطش بهدد شعبه #مصر
— Mohamed MAHSOOB (@drmahsoob) June 4, 2013

Who apologized to Ethiopia for what the patriots said and expressed regarding the threats to our legal rights of Nile , hopefully will apologize to his nation because he did not know that there was thirstiness threatening his people. 
This is Mohamed Mahsoob, the leading member in Al Wasat Party. I think Abu Ela Mady , the leader of that Islamist party also suggested some hostile action against Ethiopia.
Amazingly those politicians do not realize the damage they have caused.
Anyhow on Wednesday President Morsi tweeted the following on the same day of the National dialogue.
نؤكد على احترامنا للشعب السوداني شمالا وجنوبا والشعب الأثيوبي #الرئيس
— د.محمد مرسي (@MuhammadMorsi) June 3, 2013

We assert our respect to the Sudanese people in the North and the South as well the Ethiopian people 
This is indirect apology.
No one commented with a single word at all.
BY the way when the national dialogue speakers were speaking about covert operations against Ethiopia. The Ethiopian ambassador was having a meeting with Amr Moussa and Moussa apologized to him for the insults and threats on air against Ethiopia.
Updated :
The Ethiopian Ministry of foriegn affairs accepted Dr. ElBaradei's apology and in fact the minister of foreign affairs in Ethiopia Mr.Tedros Adhanom retweeted ElBob's tweet !!

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Posted in Africa, Citizen Journalism, Egypt, Follow Up, Media, National Security, Party of parties, Presidency | No comments
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