Arab League moves to avert Nile crisis following Ethiopia's war remarks

The Arab League plans to use its good relations with Nile Basin states to mediate between them on the one hand and Egypt and Sudan on the other in an effort to resolve longstanding differences over Nile water distribution, according to an Arab League source.

The source also noted the league's "grave concerns" over recent statements by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who said last week that war could break out between Ethiopia and Egypt over coveted Nile water.

Hani Raslan, head of the Sudan and Nile Basin desk at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said Zenawi’s statements reflected Ethiopia's failure to convince Burundi and Congo to join a new water-sharing agreement signed in Uganda earlier this year.

The current crisis, Raslan added, "reveals the distorted relationship between Egypt and the countries of Africa,” he said.  

Translated from the Arabic Edition.