To Uganda AN UNOFFICIAL delegation of 35 prominent Egyptians flew to Entebbe, Uganda, to discuss issues concerning the Nile water with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and other officials. The aim of the visit -- the first of its kind -- is to present Egypt's views on the distribution of Nile water, calling for the preservation of Egypt's historical water rights and a fresh start to the relationship between the two countries following the 25 January Revolution. The delegation included Wafd Party head El-Sayed El-Badawi, head of the Democratic Front Party Osama El-Ghazali Harb, and presidential candidates Hamdeen Sabahi, Ayman Nour and Hisham El-Bastawisi, together with Mahmoud Abu Zeid, former minister of irrigation, Ahmed El-Leithi, former minister of agriculture, and George Ishaq, an official in the Kifaya movement. Some youths who took part in the revolution travelled with the delegation. Their participation came after Foreign Minister Nabil El-Arabi asked them to take part in the talks over the Nile Basin crisis. El-Arabi met with members of the youth coalition before the visit to Uganda. Uganda was one of the first upstream Nile Basin countries to sign the Entebbe Initiative in May last year. Should the agreement be ratified, it would affect the distribution of shares of the Nile's water. Burundi was the sixth nation to sign the initiative last month, enabling ratification of an accord that may strip Egypt of its share of Nile water and its veto power over projects on the river. The initiative is opposed by Egypt and Sudan. Similar visits will be made to other Nile Basin countries. In another development, Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said his country would conduct a review of the framework agreement it signed with the Nile Basin states in May. Membe's statement came at a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart El-Arabi in Cairo early this week. Rebuilding the media A CONFERENCE on the necessity of rebuilding the Egyptian media and building a "legal and regulatory environment that supports a free and independent media for a democratic future" was held in Cairo on 30-31 March, reports Ahmed Qotb. Participants, who included academics and practitioners in media and the law in Egypt and abroad, agreed that a legal and regulatory environment should be created so that the media can "serve the public and speak the truth". "The present critical situation in Egypt creates a crucial need for fundamental change in order to protect the values and gains of the 25 January Revolution," said Basyouni Hamada, professor of media at Cairo University. "We encourage the emergence of a free media based on international standards and principles of free expression, diversity of ownership and content, inclusiveness, transparency and public accountability," Hamada noted. There is an urgent need to provide fair, balanced and impartial representation of all political actors in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for September. The conference was held under the auspices of Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi, and the chairmanship of Hamada and Naomi Sakr, professor of media policy at the University of Westminster in Britain. Egyptian media academics intend to disseminate a summary of the conference's contributions on 15 May and offer their services as an advisory board.
