Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be filled with or without an agreement with the riparian countries Sudan and Egypt who view the dam as an existential threat.

They rely on the Nile for more than 90% of the water needs in their largely desert countries.

Ahmed recalls that Ethiopia was left out of negotiations on the use of the Nile waters between Britain, as the colonial power, with Egypt and Sudan.

He maintains that building the dam, which will make Ethiopia a hydro-electrical-generating power, is its sovereign right.

His predecessors warned that they would go war to protect their access to the Nile waters. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi subsequently ratcheted things down in favour of negotiations.

Recently though, both he and his Sudanese neighbour have resorted to bellicose language.

Egypt would not allow a drop of Nile water to be stolen from it, he said.

Sudan’s Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas warned “all options are open” in safeguarding his country’s access to the water.

Both the riparian countries and Ethiopia have in turn gone to the United Nations Security Council swapping accusations of negotiating in bad faith.

As African Union Chairman last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa attempted, without success, to mediate an agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD.

Current AU chair, Congolese President Felix Tshisikedi had a bash at mediation earlier this month that also ended in deadlock.

Al Sisi has taken yet another diplomatic initiative, sending his Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on a six-nation African safari, hoping to win support from continental partners.

Shoukry visited the Comoros, South Africa, the DRC, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia.

In South Africa, the minister engaged in some fence mending.

He thanked President Cyril Ramaphosa for his mediation last year.

It is no secret that Egypt was highly suspicious of these efforts, suspecting that Ramaphosa was biased in favour of Ethiopia

Shoukry’s trip will be viewed favorably by African leaders who hold fast to the principle of African solutions to African problems.

However Al Sisi maintains his wish to see the United Nations, the European Union and the United States involved in trying to get Ethiopia to take a more understanding view of Egyptian and Sudanese fears.

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Jasmine Opperman and Joseph Hanlon are adamant that on this matter one should not believe everything one reads.

Since what one reads comes from areas that have been rendered hors de contact by jihadis destroying the mobile phone masts, then incredulity makes good sense.

What we can do now is work out where we are and how we got here.

We know that at least 2 500 people have died and more than 7 000 have been displaced in Cabo Delgado since the start of 2020.

It is self evident that corruption in Mozambique has hamstrung government’s capacity to do anything to control it, let alone stop it.

I tend to believe the Catholic Church on Mozambique.

The Church of Rome has an impressive record on the former Portuguese colony..

St Edigio, the Vatican’s ministry of foreign affairs, mediated an end to Mozambique’s 15-year civil war in which both sides fought themselves to exhaustion and by its end in 1992 had dragged the country to very bottom of the list of world’s poorest countries.

So the Catholic Bishops’ conference can draw on past form when it in explains that the insurrection in Cabo Delgado is caused by people seizing control of the country and its resources and exploiting these at the cost of its development.

The bishops, in their statement this week call for the creation of jobs, particularly for the youth, as a way of emerging from the morass of violence being fed by the desperation and marginalization of the province’s people.

Easier said than done? That is ever the case in situations where the government is forced to rely on the assistance of neighbors and other friends further afield.

President Felipe Nyusi has been too proud to accept this help.

He feels it betrays the weakness and venality in his government.

He would do well to accept the United States, Portugal and the European Union training his military to counter the jihadis.

While he does this, he should not delay in taking the socio economic steps suggested by the bishops.

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There’s increasing anger at the richer countries failing to make concessions necessary for an agreed statement from meeting known as COP25.

The anger is directed at the United States, Brazil, Australia and China as the final session on Friday stretches on and on.

Protestors have dumped horse manure and staged a fake hanging outside the venue in Madrid.

They say the EU has come with new long-term goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but the rich countries have spend two week arguing about technical details like carbon trading.

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He is speaking on the eve of summit Russia hope will give it a leg up in dealing with Africa.

Vladimir Putin knows the toughest competition Russia faces in boosting ties with Africa comes from China, the United States, India and Turkey.

He will tell the 47 African leaders gathered in Sochi this week that Russian friednship is based on their demand for African solutions to African problems.

There are sound economic reasons for improving relations with the fastest growing consumer market on the planet.

But, as China has shown, the immediate benefit is political with winning votes at the the United Nations and support in other international forae. 

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They say United Nations and African Union condemnation of rebel general Khalifa Haftar won’t stop him as long as he enjoys international support.

Khalifa Haftar broke a UN-sponsored truce over the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Adhar to attack Tripoli’s only serviceable airport.

The civilian death toll from four  drone and rocket strikes by Haftar’s forces has exceeded  100 this past month.

More than a 1000 people have been killed by his forces trying to gain control of Tripoli.

The United Nations back the government of national accord opposing him.

However Haftar is emboldened by support from Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El Sisi and US President Donald Trump.

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It urges all parties immediately to cease hostilities and the fight for the capital Tripoli.

The statement by Britain, Egypt, France, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and the United States is the latest response to warlord Khalifa Haftar’s four-month assault on Tripoli that’s cost 1 093 lives and displaced more than a hundred thousand people.

The statement says there is no military solution to Libya’s crisis since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi.

The fighting has prevented the UN-backed Government of National Accord from holding elections to end the fighting in the oil-rich North African country. 

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Nasir El Rufai’s threat has prompted European Union observers to emphasize they are ruled by a code of conduct that prevents them from interfering in elections.

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El Rufai was responding to a statement by Britain, the EU and US that the credibility of Nigeria’s elections could be compromised by President Muhammadu Buhari suspending the country’s Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s appealed to Western governments to ensure the ruling All Progressives Congress does not succeed in trying to rig the election.

Britain and the United State say they’ll deny visas to any Nigerian politician who tries to rig the poll.

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The Kinshasa government says the church has broken the law by making this assertion ahead of provisional results from the electoral commission known as CENI.

The DRC government slams yesterday’s call by the Catholic church to release the results of the election in the name of truth and justice.

It accuses the church of being irresponsible and anarchist.

CENI is scheduled to release provisional results tomorrow.

However, it says the tardy flow of information from polling stations will probably delay this.

The United States and the European Union have called for the early announcement of accurate results.

Detractors accuse outgoing President Joseph Kabila of being reluctant to accept the electoral defeat of his hand-picked successor Emmanuel Shadary by either Martin Fayulu or Felix Tshisekedi   

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This after the SADC election observation team issued its report saying the poll had been relatively well managed.

Head of the DRC electoral commission known as CENI Corneille Nangaa’s told aspirants for the country’s presidency that provisional results of the election, scheduled to be released on Sunday, will be delayed.

That’s because less than a fifth of the tally sheets from around the country have reached the commission offices in Kinshasa.

He did not provide a new date for publication.

Authorities have blocked the internet in the Congo until the provisional results are made known.

The European Union, United States, Canada and Switzerland have told them to turn it on again.

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Election observers are complaining  that they are being denied access to the count.

The diplomatic note to President Joseph Kabila was delivered by Britain’s Ambassador to Kinshasa.

The European Union’s chief envoy has been expelled from the DRC.

The United States, Canada and Switzerland have joined the call on the DRC government to abandon its plan to block social media until interim election results are published on Sunday.

Unofficial results after three days of counting shows ruling alliance candidate Emmanuel Shadary trailing opposition runners Felix Tshisekedi and Martin Fayulu.

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