CAIRO: Egypt's Coptic Pontiff, Pope Shenouda II, met on Monday with the Egyptian ambassador to Ethiopia for talks over the ongoing battle for water in the Nile Basin region. It comes as Ethiopia announced continued plans to erect a massive dam along the Nile, which Cairo sees as a threat to its water security. The two discussed the current developments along the Nile and the role Egypt can play in ending the ongoing stalemate and tension over a water-sharing agreement with upstream countries. According to local newspapers, the Pope talked about the role of the Egyptian church in intervening in negotiations and re-establishing relations with the Ethiopian church to confirm Ethiopia's commitment to the water agreement. The Coptic Church reportedly told Egyptian daily al-Youm al-Saba'a that it could help solve the impasse through its connections with the Ethiopian church. The source also said that “Egyptians are in the Pope's heart and mind and that he is concerned with this issue especially that Egypt needs stability in the coming period, and the reduction of its shared water will affect its people whether they are Christians or Muslims.” The meeting comes as tension builds along the Nile, with the planned dam and South Sudan's independence, which many fear could spark a regional conflict over water resources. Egypt continues to refuse to negotiate over a 1929 treaty that guarantees it the lion's share of Nile water. With the country expected to face widespread water shortages in by the end of the decade, the government has maintained that it needs all the water as part of the treaty, despite upstream nations pushing for a more equitable agreement. BM
