Egyptian officials appear to be engaged in a media spin to disguise the shortcoming of their diplomatic campaign against the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam. Recent media reports forwarded by readers of Horn Affairs indicate a pattern.

Two weeks ago, on February 23, the State-owned Ahram Online claimed Tanzanian President expressed his support to Egypt’s position on the Renaissance dam during the latter’s Foreign Minister visit to Dar es Selaam. Ahram Online wrote:

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has said Nile Basin countries should consult and decide on a mutual agreeable arrangement prior to the construction of any dams that impact several countries, stated Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

On an official Facebook page, Fahmy posted on Sunday the details of his meeting with Kikwete, and how understanding the latter was to the fact that Egypt depends on the Nile for almost 95 percent of its water……It was also posted that the Tanzanian president explained during the meeting that notification and consultation with downstream countries should take place prior to the establishment of any project that would affect the flow of Nile waters.

However, a news entry on Tanzanian media indicates President Jakaya Kikwete remark was inline with Ethiopia’s position and hardly supportive of Egypt’s demand for an exclusive right on the Nile waters. The Swahili language news outlet Habarileo reported on Feb 24 that:

Regarding the use of the Nile waters, the president stressed the position of Tanzania to be the right of every country where the river flows using its water for its development.

“We believe in the Right to Use Water in all countries where this river flows. It’s kind of right that applies to Tanzania to the use of different rivers in Tanzania, “he said.

Similarly, the online magazine Busiweek reported that:

After their talks [with Egyptian Envoy to the president, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy], President Kikwete commented on the use of Nile waters stressing the position of Tanzania that it was the right of every country where the river flows through to use that water for its development.

“All countries where the river flows , in one way or another, have the same rights to use the river water for their  country’s development,” this is Tanzania ‘s position, said President Kikwete, adding that he believes in fair use of water in all countries where the river flows.

It is to be noted that Tanzania is one of the six signatories of the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA; aka Entebbe Treaty) that establishes a mechanism for a fair and equitable utilization of the Nile river. To which, Egypt is opposed.

In a similar fashion, Egyptian officials have been spinning the recent travel of Egyptian irrigation minister to Addis Ababa to claim their diplomatic campaign against Ethiopia’s dam is having an impact.

In its news entry on Feb 9, 2014, Ahram Online claimed that:

Ethiopia’s irrigation minister has invited his Egyptian counterpart to the capital of Addis Ababa for further talks on Monday, in hopes of ending a political impasse between the two Nile countries over a proposed hydroelectric dam…… Egyptian irrigation minister Mohamed Abdel-Motteleb had accepted the invitation from Ethiopia’s Alemayehu Tegenu and will travel with members from his ministry’s Nile water sector as well as the country’s foreign ministry.

Catching up on that line, Al-Monitor – an online media known for its extensive coverage of Egypt and Iran – wrote on the subsequent week:

On Feb. 6, Egypt’s minister of water resources and irrigation visited Italy, where he explained the critical water situation in Egypt, the water problems that recur every year and Egyptian fears of the dam’s impact on the country’s water security. Afterward, Egypt’s Ministry of Water said in a statement, of which Al-Monitor has obtained a copy, that “the visit has achieved its goal. Italy has understood Egyptian concerns.”

Al-Monitor spoke to a government source familiar with the file of the Nile Basin. “Egypt’s open move, for the first time, and the visit by Italy’s irrigation minister has had an impact on Ethiopia, which invited us for dialogue again on Feb. 11 in Addis Ababa. However, Ethiopia again stuck to its point of view and rejected all confidence initiatives put forward by Egypt,” the source noted.

However, the weekly bulletin of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed that the Egyptian Water Minister’s recent official trip to Ethiopia was “made at his own request”.

The bulletin indicated further that:

“[During the Egyptian Minister visit], the Ethiopian government has emphasized that it is not ready to conduct further discussions in the absence of the Sudan or outside the framework of the tripartite Water Ministers’ meetings.”

Observers speculate that Egypt brought the tripartite Ministerial talks to deadlock, so that to project “toughness” among Egyptian electorates. Thus, the series of inaccurate media reports and claims of success could be an extension of that political gamble and likely to continue until the upcoming Presidential election in Cairo.

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