Analyst argues about GERD in U.S. hand

Political analyst Dr. Raouf Gaafar underlined the importance of the phone talks between President Abdel Fattah e-Sisi and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to discuss

Political analyst Dr. Raouf Gaafar underlined the importance of the phone talks between President Abdel Fattah e-Sisi and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to discuss various issues among which is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). He expected that the US mediation would be effective in pushing ahead that issue and help break up the stalemate of the negotiations.

Over the phone on (Africa Today), he explained that the USA was taking a neutral attitude but when matters developed in the Tigray region in Ethiopia, they sent an American envoy who had a meeting with President Sisi and his Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts. The new attitude of the U.S. is very much backing the idea of Egypt to reach an agreement that is compelling each and every country to respect all the accords and agreements signed aiming to fix the allocation of water and don’t touch the quantity of water, thus there is a major change in  the U.S. stance.

To support his argument, he said that the shift in the American attitude is obvious as they recently imposed sanctions on Addis Ababa over the situation in the Tigray region. 

Dr Gaafar praised the French government position towards the GERD issue as it is very much backing Egypt’s point of view. He thinks that the European Union is waiting to see the opinion of the USA towards the issue then accordingly declare their position.

Finally, he blames the African Union as its mediation and effort over the Dam is not sufficient. It is not putting enough pressure on Ethiopia to sit down and wisely negotiate with Egypt and Sudan, so the issue had to be treated within the AU, he concluded. 

(Africa Today) is aired on Nile TV International. This episode is presented by Engy Maher.