In the countdown to 30 June, the first anniversary of Mohamed Morsi's presidency, newspapers noted signs of an escalation in tension and violence. Al-Masry Al-Youm on Tuesday wrote ‘Roadmap till 30 June'. Al-Youm Al-Sabei on Monday had ‘Scenario of blood and fire between Tamarod, Al-Dameer and MB on 30 June' and Al-Shorouk wrote ‘Countdown to 30 June starts with war of rumours and leaks'. Newspapers also covered other pressing problems like that of the shortage of petrol and the final exams of the high school certificate. Al-Ahram on Monday wrote ‘Government efforts to end the petro crisis in two days' and Al-Akhbar on Sunday had ‘Minister of education fails in Arabic exam' in reference to the difficult thanaweya amma Arabic exam on Saturday which caused distress among students. Writers looked at what may happen up to and on 30 June. Niazi Mustafa said the present days are similar to the days leading up to the 25 January Revolution “which started magnificently but lost track after that”. Now, the youth that initiated the revolution are trying to put it back on track and build a new Egypt that is capable of regaining its influential regional and international role. Meanwhile, Mustafa added, the MB is adamant in following the track it drew for itself regardless of the facts and major events that have taken place recently. The writer regarded the meeting held to discuss the Renaissance Dam as an international scandal. Egypt may take years to correct the repercussions of that encounter. Amid this dreary scene, the young and strong Tamarod, or rebel, movement came to gather signatures from the people who want Egypt to be for all Egyptians rather than for the MB only. “The MB's claim that the petition does not have a constitutional and legal basis reminds me of Mubarak when he said ‘leave them to entertain themselves' describing the youth who were gathering signatures to support Al-Baradei,” Mustafa wrote in the independent daily Al-Youm Al-Sabei. The revolutionary youth entertained themselves indeed, Mustafa added, by sacking his regime. He concluded by pinning hope “on the great Egyptian people who will be able to put the revolution back on track and achieve its goals”. Hassan Nafaa wrote in his article entitled ‘What will happen on 30/6?' that a sizeable sector of society is calling for early presidential elections as the only way out of the present political crisis. “However, there is no way out unless the president is convinced because he is the only person who can decide to hold early presidential elections.” Given that the president still rejects the idea, the columnist added, youths came with another idea: casting doubt on his legitimacy through the Tamarod campaign. In an attempt to draw a picture of the present political situation, Nafaa writes that there is a movement that is trying to withdraw confidence from the president through gathering signatures from the people and are calling on them to go down to the streets on 30 June and protest until their demands are met. In the meantime, Nafaa added, there is another opposing movement called Tagarod which for no clear reason chose the same tools and techniques of Tamarod to spoil what it is trying to do. “The real problem is not in the establishment of Tagarod, but in the bankruptcy of the ruling regime which is only capable of creating crises and entering into confrontations. It is not capable of protecting us from crises or avoiding them,” he wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom. Instead of encouraging Tagarod to confront Tamarod, Nafaa called on Morsi to put an end to the polarisation and take the initiative to ask an independent and unbiased political person to consult with both sides and try to reach a deal that appeals to both of them before 30 June. He concluded his article by wondering if that individual is available. The aftermath of the Ethiopian decision to divert the Blue Nile and build the Renaissance Dam is still a matter of serious concern. Writers looked at the way the authorities are dealing with it. Mohamed Ali Kheir wrote that without exaggeration, Egypt has entered a dangerous zone because it is the first time that Egypt has been faced with a major threat to its national security. “Egypt's security is confined to two places: its eastern gate [Sinai-Israel border], and the Nile water. In the military dogma the latter is more important. Throughout Egypt's history, it has never faced threats from the two places at the same time,” Kheir wrote in the independent daily Al-Shorouk. Although Egypt is still dealing with the Sinai file, he added, “we were forced to deal with the Nile water issue after Ethiopia insisted on building the Renaissance Dam which will be dangerous to our lives. That put the state and the political and media elite in a real crisis.” While the author hailed the choice of Boutros Ghali as a member of the committee which will monitor the dam issue because he knows Africa and has strong personal relations with many African leaders, he was not happy with other members because they are not experienced enough in that area. At the end, Kheir described the issue as a real test for Egypt's rulers, institutions and political elite. Unless they unite their ranks and abandon differences, the deluge will swallow everybody. However, the first move needs to come from the presidency. Makram Mohamed Ahmed asked why the Egyptian government has not revealed the details of the report of the tripartite committee on the Renaissance Dam which drew a picture of the impact of the dam on Egypt. “Why is our government, which is ranked among the 10 least transparent governments, ignoring the least rules of transparency and concealing the report on the dam? It should reveal the results to the people so that they know the magnitude of the crisis facing the country,” Mohamed Ahmed wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram. He wondered whether the government thinks that the report would remain a secret forever in a world where there are no barriers in the sharing of information. The situation is dangerous, he added. Thus dealing with the matter involves wide consensus in which all the political powers should be consulted in order to reach a joint and clear solution. If it is Ethiopia's right to store water and generate electricity from the Renaissance Dam, Mohamed Ahmed elaborated, it is Egypt's natural right to guarantee its normal water quota and electricity generated from the High Dam. There should be no opposition between the interests of the two states and that involves that Egypt helps Ethiopia in marketing the electricity it produces via Egypt.
