Thursday, May 30, 2013

Former Egyptian commander: Striking Ethiopia dam 'impossible'

(May 30, 2013, (Cairo))--General Mohamed Ali Bilal, commander of Egyptian forces during the Gulf war, said that it is “impossible” to strike the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam because such a decision would be issuing a challenge to the entire world.

Bilal told al-Arabiya satellite channel on Wednesday that such an attack would bring Egypt into conflict with those countries, such as China and Israel, whose citizens are involved in the construction of the dam. Egypt is not in a position to stand up to all those countries, he added.

He also said that, when the US launched Desert Storm and invaded Kuwait, it did so under the auspices of the UN. Besides, he added, there seems to be international consensus that Ethiopia has the right to build the dam.

He emphasized that the US had planned its construction and that Israel is providing technical support. In Bilal’s view, the only way to tackle the crisis is to persuade the US to intervene on Egypt's behalf and convince the Ethiopians to mitigate the impact construction of the dam will have.  Read more from Egypt Independent »

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