A high-level Egyptian delegation representing a broad cross- section of Egypt's political forces headed by Wafd Party's Mustafa Guindi, who is also a member of the African Parliament, left for unofficial discussions with the Uganda president on Nile water usage, calling for new coordination with the people of the African countries that share the Nile basin. The delegation included representatives of the Youth Revolution Coalition, Abdel-Hakim Abdel-Nasser, son of the former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Osama El-Ghazali Harb, the head of the Democratic Front, El-Sayed El-Badawi, head of the Wafd Party and Hussein Ibrahim of the Muslim Brotherhood. This long-overdue move is designed to overcome the woeful disregard of Egypt's lifeline by the former regime. Since the 1995 assassination attempt on Egypt's former president, Egypt turned its back on Africa, an ill-considered development that must be corrected employing all our efforts. There's even talk of establishing a ministry of African affairs. The delegation hopes to build on the sympathy that the African people showed towards Egypt's 25 January Revolution. They chose Uganda because it had a particularly testy relationship with the regime of ex-president Hosni Mubarak. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni noted that the 25 January Revolution has returned Egypt to its leadership position in the African continent. Uganda was one of the first upstream Nile Basin countries to sign the Entebbe Initiative in 2010 in defiance of Egypt and Sudan. But perhaps the most important country to approach is Ethiopia, which controls 85 per cent of Egypt's Nile waters. Ethiopia is constructing a hydroelectric power dam along the Blue Nile River, which will inevitably impact Egypt's share of the Nile water. It's important to note that the Egyptian delegation will stress a diplomatic solution to the Nile Basin crisis and will request the pause of any agreements until further discussions are held with the new Egyptian government. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El-Arabi has rightly emphasised the critical importance of the Nile Basin countries. El-Arabi said Egypt is going through a new era following the revolution and will see new foreign policies, especially with regard to the Nile Basin countries. This visit follows that of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to North and South Sudan, visiting Khartoum and Juba to discuss joint efforts to solve the Sudanese political impasse. The fact that Sharaf chose Sudan as his first official visit abroad, immediately followed by this top-level delegation to Uganda underlines the new focus of Egypt's foreign policy. The 25 January Revolution offers new vistas for Egypt in reasserting its historical role in Egypt as a bridge between North and South, East and West. Let us hope that the meeting in Kampala will be a meeting of minds and open the road to a new stage in African unity.
