የ አባይ ቁጣ ማክሰኞ ሱዳናዊ ሽብርተኛን ወደ እንግሊዝ ላከ፣ ረቡዕ ፳፬ ሱዳናውያን በሞት ቀጠፈ

ከሁለት ቀናት በፊት በእንግሊዟ ለንደን፡ ብሪታኒያ ምክር ቤት አጠገብ የእግር መንገደኞችንና ብስክሌት አሽከርካሪዎችን ለመግደል አቅዶ የነበረው ሱዳናዊው ሙስሊም በ መኪና አደናቸው።

ይህ ሱዳናዊ ከ ፭ ዓመት በፊት ወደ ብሪታኒያ መጥቶ የብሪታንያን ዜግነት አግኝቷል። የ ፳፱ ዓመት እድሜ ያለው ሳሊህ ካተር ከዚህ ቀደም በዚሁ በዊስትሚንስትር የለንደን ከተማ አካባቢ (ፓርላማው እዚህ ይገኛል) ሽብር ፈጽመው ከነበሩት የበርሚንግሃም ሙስሊሞች ጋር ግኑኝነት እንደነበረው አሁን ተገልጿል።

አይገርምም? እንግሊዞች ለሽብር ፈጣሪዎቹ በ፭ ዓመት ብቻ የብሪታኒያ ዜግነት ይሰጧቸዋል። ፲ ዓመት ቆይተው ዜግነቱን ያላገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያንን አውቃለሁ።

በትናንትናው ዕለት ደግሞ፡ በሱዳን አገር አንድ ፵ ተማሪዎችን የያዘች ጀልባ አባይ ወንዝ ላይ ሰጥማ ፳፬ ሕፃናት ሞቱ፤ ነፍሳቸውን ይማርላቸውና።

ለ ሺህ ዓመታት ውሃውን በነፃ በሚጠጡት ምስጋና ቢሶቹ ላይ እግዚአብሔር ተቆጥቷል፣ በ አባይ ቁጣውን ይገልጻል፦

ይገርማል፤ እንግሊዝ መጀመሪያ ላይ የአባይን ውሃ ለግብጽና ሱዳን ሰጠች፤ ኢትዮጵያ ግን ተጠማች፣ አሁን ግን አምላካችን በቃችሁ አላቸው፤ ኢትዮጵያን የሕዳሴውን ግድብ እንድትሠራ አዘዛት፣ ተንኮለኞቹ ጣሊያኖች “እንርዳ” ብለው ከች አሉ፥ ግብጾች ከከሃዲዎች ጋር ተባብረው ግንበኛ ስመኘውን ገደሉ… አቤት ድፍረት!

ሱዳን፣ ግብጽ፣ እንግሊዝ፣ ጣሊያን፤ ተውን! አትተናኮሉን፤ ኢትዮጵያን አትንኩ!

አባይ የእግዚአብሔር ወንዝ ነው!

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New Study Reveals That Bible Prophecy Is On Target As Turkey And Other Nations Have Been Experiencing The Worst Drought It Has Ever Seen For The Past 900 Years

Drought that began in 1998 in the eastern Mediterranean, especially in Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the West Bank was likely the worst of the past nine centuries, according to a study from NASA.

Its called The Levant drought. The study found that the 1998-2012 period was drier than the previous driest interval in the time period in question, which occurred during the years from 1205 to 1219. In other words, this was the driest 15-year period of the last 900 years, and a 98 percent likelihood that it was the driest 15-year period of the last 500 years.

This is a worrisome prediction for the Pentagon and intelligence community, who see water stress and population growth as two factors that are likely to tip the scale toward more conflict and humanitarian crises in the coming decades.

And its not only in the Levant. North America, Europe and Australia lost about 20 percent of its crop from droughts since 1964 and 2007.

Richard Seager, a researcher at Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Observatory in New York stated:

“[The study] truly backs up our contention… that the Syria drought was unusual and influenced by human-driven climate change. As such, it places more confidence in model projections that drying will continue and intensify across Middle East in coming decades and, yes, cause more trouble in a water scarce area”

While I always replace “climate change” to “God decided to change the climate”, by 2011, drought-related crop failure had pushed up to 1.5 million displaced farmers to abandon their land; the displaced became a wellspring of recruits for the Free Syrian Army and for ISIS and al Qaeda. Testimonies gathered by reporters and activists in conflict zones suggest that the lack of government help during the drought was a central motivating factor in the antigovernment rebellion. Moreover, a 2011 study shows that today’s rebel strongholds of Aleppo, Deir al-Zour, and Raqqa were among the areas hardest hit by crop failure.

In other words, drought changed the economic, social, and political landscape of Syria. Iraq, already reeling from ISIS and sectarian tension, could be next.

Satellite image showing Syria at focal point of Middle East drought.

What also plays a major factor besides drought is the human factor. Keep in mind that the fall of the Ottoman Empire between the eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth century was caused by revolts which disrupted the established food supplies of the empire and caused large-scale famines to starve the major cities on a regular basis. In response, the urban populace became a restless, misruled, and anarchic mass that broke loose at the slightest provocation, responding to unemployment, famine, and plague with riots and summary executions of the officials considered responsible. This caused the Ottoman collapse.

What the Ottomans did in pouring their wrath on Christendom finally caused God to pour His wrath: “until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” (Daniel 9:27) (more on that on our coming Sunday Special)

There will be no difference between the collapse of this first beast and its resurrected version of the Caliphate soon to arise, except that this unfolding will happen at a much faster pace as final “birth pangs”.

The Bible predicted that a war will erupt where Turkey with other Muslim nations will invade Jerusalem over the issue of food (Ezekiel 38:13) and that the price of wheat will skyrocket “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius …” (Revelation 6:6)

In other words, this Syrian drought, and the cataclysmic conflict that has been a related result, may be just the beginning of a long period of water stress and instability in the once-fertile Levant region.

This year, Morocco’s drought wiped out half of its wheat harvest — devastating a country where even the King has called on the nation to pray for rain. The driest start to winter in two decades in the center of the country has decimated crops in Africa’s second-biggest wheat grower, where just 15 percent of fields are irrigated. Imports may double to a record next season to account for the reduced harvest, a Bloomberg survey of six analysts showed.

Moroccans consume more than three times as much wheat as the global average, eating it in everything from thick soups to filo-dough pastry. The grain is a staple in North Africa, where higher food costs and shortages in the past six years helped trigger unrest that led to the toppling of governments in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The drought evoked King Mohammed VI to lead rare national rain prayers after normal Friday worship for a second time in January.

In Turkey, despite all the talk to cover the problem of a dramatic rise in output, the country has kept importing wheat as the locally produced wheat is of low quality due to unproductive seeds. The productivity level can be increased through certified seeds, according to sector players. The quality problem in wheat production has, however, not been resolved.

“Around 50-60 percent the wheat production is made with certified seeds. That’s why we cannot reach the desired productivity levels. Turkey imports wheat to produce flour as its productivity levels are low. Besides, we need to wait for rainfalls as we cannot do irrigated farming. This also affects both production and quality negatively,” said Agriculturalists’ Association of Turkey (TZD) Chairman İbrahim Yetkin.

WHILE TURKEY HURTS CHRISTIAN RUSSIA WILL POUR OUT GOD’S WRATH

While Turkey has ‘bad wheat’ Russia opposes genetically modified food (GMOs). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ukraine and Russia are expected to export 39 million tonnes of wheat in the 2015/16 marketing year, a massive 14 percent increase on the record volume of 2014/15. The United States is undeniably bringing up the rear, as it expects to export the lowest wheat volume since 1971/72.

But perhaps what will unfold these biblical prophecies to cause the skyrocket of prices for wheat is not just weather patterns. The continuing geopolitical tensions between Turkey and Russia and export restrictions and deteriorating domestic infrastructure are “pinch points” which will disrupt commodity flows, causing food price spikes and “severe and sustained disruption of critical food supplies”, according to analysts at Chatham House, who are mapping the risks in food commodity trade.

The shipping route from Russia that Black Sea wheat now goes through “is a highly tense region”, says Rob Bailey, research director of Chatham House. Russia exports wheat all the way to Nigeria and Mexico, which have traditionally bought US wheat.

Keep in mind that the increased output of wheat from Russia and Ukraine is sending U.S. exports to a 44-year low, further eroding the appeal for American growers who already are mired in the longest income slump since the 1980s.

As that region depends on Russia and as grain flow from the Black Sea grows, a disruption on the Bosphorus would have a severe impact on international markets. Other transport “chokepoints” for commodities from the region include the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden. 90 per cent of Russian wheat exports go through the Bosphorus. Factoring in harvest shocks from droughts so that “a quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius” becomes a fact.

Mounting tensions between Moscow and Ankara are worrying some analysts including an escalation of the Ukrainian situation or a flashpoint in Turkey, that could imperil the passage of ships through the Bosphorus.

And Turkey plays a major role in cutting off water. Kurdistan’s and Iraq’s sources of water are mainly the Tigris and Euphrates, both of which come from outside the country. With this weakness point, and all the troubles going on in the country, Turkey has been working to control the sources of water by building several dams to gain more influence over Kurdistan and Iraq and use this to achieve more political and economic pressure.

In the early 1900s, the American journalist Alfred Henry Lewis famously wrote that there are only nine meals between men and revolution. As the water resources available for agricultural production decline precipitously across the Middle East, we ignore Lewis’ observation at our peril. The Tigris-Euphrates river basin, which feeds Syria and Iraq, is rapidly drying up. This vast area already struggles to support at least ten million conflict-displaced people. And things could soon get worse; Iraq is reaching a crisis point.

Shoebat.com last year reported that between 2003 and 2009, the Tigris-Euphrates basin comprising Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and western Iran “lost groundwater faster than any other place in the world except northern India”. We also have the risk of war between Egypt and Ethiopia due to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, threatening to restrict Egypt’s access to the Nile River, which supplies 98% of Egypt’s water supply.

Turkey, Syria and Iraq are biblically doomed:

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared,” (Revelation 16:10).

The Euphrates stems from Turkey downstream to Syria and Iraq. Egypt too will suffer from the Nile being stopped:

The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry. The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither, also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more. The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away. (Isaiah 19:5-8)

“A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius …” (Revelation 6:6)

The price of wheat is addressed in Scripture at a silver denarius per quart for a reason. In New Testament times, the silver coin weight was 3.65 grams. A U.S. mint quarter has 5.625 grams of silver. If we take a measure of wheat to be a quart (32 ounces) and the price of wheat at an average of $332 per 2000 pounds (metric ton) which is 32 cents a quart in today’s prices, then a silver denarius (3.65 grams) is at $3.24. This would mean that the spike in the price of bread will increase to 10 fold.

Imagine buying a loaf of bread for $20. Years from now, folks will read this article to only reflect.

Source

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‘BBC’ Darling, Calling Arabs to Fight Against Africans

My Note: Abdel Bari Atwan, who once was on Colonel Gaddafi’s payroll, is urging Arabs to unite behind Egypt to defeat, what he calls, the Afro-Israeli conspirators who are planning to block the river Nile.

This disgraceful editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab daily, “Al Quds al Arabi” — who often appears on the BBC and CNN, has been a big supporter of terror attacks on Israel. His anti-Israel, anti-US and anti-Christian stance is so obvious, yet, the BBC & co give him a prominent platform to spread misinformation and disinformation

He is, of course one of those people who speak differently in Arabic and in English. He once said:

“If you support the Palestinian resistance, you do not consider Bin Laden’s attacks terrorism”Abdul Bari Atwan, a London-based journalist and editor of Al Quds Al Arabi, told Egypt’s ON TV, when asked if Bin Laden was a terrorist, that:“If you support the Palestinian resistance, you do not consider [Bin Laden’s attacks] terrorism. But if you are with America, Europe, and Israel, you do consider it terrorism. It depends on your definition of terrorism … Whoever fights America and its enterprise in the region, and whoever fights Israel and the American occupation, is not considered a terrorist by me.”

How this wicked individual has become a regular contributor to BBC Dateline and writes for The Guardian poses a riddle to me.

This’s what he wrote on the Nile issue:

On Tuesday, Egyptians woke up to news from Ethiopia that it intends to complete the ‘Rennaissance Dam’ on the Blue Nile. The river currently supplies 85 percent of downstream Egypt’s water. Such a step would not only affect Egypt’s water supply but would also impede electricity production at the mega, hydro-powered Aswan Dam.

Several Egyptian newspapers used the story of Ethiopia’s planned and its impact on Egypt’s national security to attack Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. They said he must bear responsibility for Ethiopia’s decision, accusing him of ignoring this critical issue, even though it was not dealt with by the previous regime.

Ethiopia began construction of the dam in 2011, at a cost of $4.7 billion, with support from Israel. The plan is to use hydro-power to generate electricity and turn the Renaissance Dam into a major source of energy in Africa.

The main threat to Egypt, however, does not lie in generating electricity or diverting the river. The main problem is that Ethiopia is also building an industrial lake to store 74 billion cubic metres of water, greatly reducing Egypt’s quota of water.

The initial results of such water shortage would lead to the suspension of turbines that generate electricity in the Aswan Dam, in turn having a significant impact on agricultural land.

Egypt’s previous regime lacked a suitable policy for working with Nile Basin countries. Hosni Mubarak’s government was arrogant in its dealing with Sudan for over ten years, a stance which led Israel to intervene, confronting Egypt and paving the way for this threat to its national security and economy.

Israel’s Foreign Minister at the time, Avigdor Lieberman, who had once threatened to bomb the Aswan Dam, led an Israeli delegation comprising businesspeople and engineering experts across five African countries in 2011. The minister said Israel was ready to support dam-building and the diversion of Nile water. The visit led to the signing of Entebbe agreement between Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Congo. Burundi pledged not to sign the agreement, but soon caved in.

Motivated by political and commercial self-interest, Israel’s interference was not surprising – nor was the subsequent involvement of several Israeli firms in the resulting mega-projects, including an agreement to distribute the energy produced by the new dams.

Hosni Mubarak made disastrous mistakes in dealing with the water issue, Ethiopia’s water projects and Israeli threats to Egypt’s security. The government also exaggerated the issue of Halayeb and Shalateen to wage war against Sudan and the regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

Following a failed assassination attempt on Mubarak in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the Egyptian government turned on the Sudanese regime, accusing it of being complicit in the incident. Mubarak opened an embassy for the head of the rebel movement, expressing his support for South Sudan.

Another mistake made by the former Egyptian regime was that it failed to strengthen its relations with Horn of Africa states, including Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti. A number of these countries treat Ethiopia as an enemy due to Ethiopia’s historic occupation of their lands.

Aboud El-Zomor, a senior official from Egypt’s Building and Development Party, has claimed the Ethiopian move to build a dam is “a declaration of war.” He has urged President Morsi’s regime to respond firmly, knowing full well that the current economic conditions in Egypt could prevent such a response.

The Nile water dilemma has been one that previous rulers of Egypt have struggled to deal with. History tells us that Muhammad Ali Pasha established a military force to interfere immediately if Ethiopia or any other country threatened Egypt’s water interests.

Often nations – both civilized and uncivilized states – manage to unite when they face a crisis which affects the whole state; throughout history, government and opposition forces have come together and set their differences aside to confront a potential threat to national security. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Egypt today. Instead, we’re seeing a brutal political and media war that threatens to destroy Egypt’s national unity.

Egypt is an easy target. It is surrounded by potential threats on all sides. Sinai is a semi-failed state in the East. Libya is a failed state in the West. Civil wars have destroyed Sudan from the East, West and South. Israel conspires against all of them in the North, while the Egyptian state has internal problems too.

The sad truth is that Egypt’s strongest supporters in the past were Syria and Iraq. Now the Gulf States have turned against these countries and Egypt faces its problems alone.

I support Egypt and its people, and wish they would confront the conspiracies that target its national security. Egypt’s people face Israeli manipulations in Africa, the collapse of its state machinery and starvation. All of the above, plus the collusion of internal elements with foreign powers to destabilise Egypt are red lines that should unite all political forces in the country.

Egypt needs a strong and wise administration to confront the current crises. A government which gives priority to the national interests of the country. I have confidence in the Egyptian people, their leadership and their military institutions that are loyal to Egypt.

Once united, the Arab nation can never be defeated.

Source

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No Denial on the Nile: Egypt Threatens Ethiopian Dams

In a humiliating example of self-inflicted electronic bugging, last week a live broadcast television microphone in Egyptian President Muhammed Morsi’s Cairo office caught the president and Egypt’s most senior political leaders plotting sneak attacks on the upstream Nile’s biggest dam builder, Ethiopia.

No denial on the Nile. When an audience of millions overhears pious Egyptian Islamists and well-heeled Egyptian liberals mull classic covert warfare options — such as having Ethiopian rebels sabotage Ethiopia’s new Blue Nile dams or deploying shady political agents to agitate in Addis Ababa — the usual diplomatic salve, plausible denial, isn’t an option.

In point of fact, the Egyptian government’s initial embarrassment has given way to hard-edged declaration. Egyptians will fight Ethiopia for every drop of Nile River water!

For politically fractured and factionalized Egypt, war talk is a unifying tonic and a distraction from Egypt’s endless miseries. Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood government has simply failed to address the enormous economic and social problems afflicting Egypt.

Solving embedded societal ills requires a national unity of purpose. Morsi has been a national divider. His sharia-based constitution delighted Muslim Brothers but dismayed Egypt’s liberals. His attempt to invoke emergency rule (reminiscent of Hosni Mubarak) splintered Egypt’s Arab Spring revolutionary front. Muslim moderates joined with secular liberals and demanded he resign.

But Nile water sustains all Egyptians. The trite adage, “Egypt is the Nile,” is true. From Aswan north to Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea, the green band bordering the great river is home to 90 percent of Egypt’s population.

Morsi needs a route to national reconciliation. The Nile Water War (temporarily) solves Egypt’s broken puzzle: Us Downstream Egyptians versus Them Upstream Ethiopians.

But Ethiopia’s dams did not suddenly appear. For two decades every nation in east Africa has known Ethiopia intended to build several large hydro-electric dams and become Africa’s biggest power exporter.

Ethiopia has been waging a steady diplomatic campaign asserting its rights to Nile water. Ethiopia’s case is as passionately essential as Egypt’s. One word defines the basic case: famine. Water in reservoirs is a hedge against famines induced by drought. Electrical power sums Ethiopia’s expanded case.

Ethiopia contends the traditional division of Nile water distribution rights are based on an antiquated colonial artifact that unfairly favors Egypt. The 1929 Nile Waters agreement (engineered by Great Britain) gave Anglo-Egyptian Egypt 90 percent of the Nile’s annual flow. Egypt could also veto upstream water projects. In 1957 Ethiopia announced it would utilize Nile water resources within its territory. The Blue Nile and its Ethiopian tributaries generate 75 to 85 percent of the Nile’s annual flow. The White Nile, from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, generates the rest.

A war between east Africa’s two most powerful nations would be a disaster for both. That’s so obvious I’ll wager even Mohammed Morsi knows it. The war options Egyptian leaders vetted included buying new long-range strike aircraft. Egypt’s air force can handle border conflicts, but hitting the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a long-range operation. Sudan separates Egypt from Ethiopia. One parliamentarian thought credible strike aircraft might give Ethiopia political pause. Ethiopia’s already credible air and ground forces should give Egyptian sword rattlers pause.

In April 2011 StrategyPage.com reported that Ethiopian diplomats had proposed an interesting win-win solution. Ethiopia would sell Egypt a partnership interest in its dams. Egypt would have ownership input in the operations. Ownership guaranteed Egypt reliable hydro-electric power. Egypt would also split the profits from selling electricity throughout Africa. Hey, Cairo. For the dams to generate electricity, water must flown downstream.

Ethiopia’s proposal at least creates the possibility of a win-win political deal. In time cool heads in Cairo should accept it.

Source

[Isaiah 19:3-7]

The Egyptians will panic, and I will confuse their strategy. They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead, from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.

I will hand Egypt over to a harsh master; a powerful king will rule over them,” says the sovereign master, the LORD who commands armies.

The water of the sea will be dried up, and the river will dry up and be empty.

The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up; the bulrushes and reeds will decay, along with the plants by the mouth of the river. All the cultivated land near the river will turn to dust and be blown away.

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Egypt’s Instability Triggers a New Proxy War Against Ethiopia and its Allies

Egypt’s Morsi Government has initiated a return to covert war against Ethiopia, which controls the source of the Blue Nile, Egypt’s and Sudan’s principal source of water.

The result will almost certainly lead to an increased level of insecurity in the strategic Red Sea/Suez sea lane and in the upper Nile riparian states, such as South Sudan, with some impact on global energy markets. Certainly it promises to see greater instability in the Horn of Africa at a time when Western media portrayals hint at a return to stability in, for example, Somalia.

Significant, mounting public unrest in Egypt during May and June 2013 (with more promised), expressing discontent with the economic and social policies of the Ikhwani Government of Pres. Mohammed Morsi caused the President to search for a major foreign distraction — a perceived threat to Egypt — to turn public attention away from the worsening domestic social and economic climate. The campaign includes a major media offensive at the alleged threat, and also included the commitment of major political, intelligence, and military resources to a trenchant reversal of Egypt’s brief period of rapprochement with Upper Nile riparian states, particularly Ethiopia.

This amounts to a full — even expanded — resumption of the indirect war to isolate Ethiopia politically and economically and to ensure that it cannot attract foreign investment and political support. It also attempts to ensure that Ethiopia’s main avenues for trade, through the Red Sea ports in Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somaliland, become closed to it. This, in particular, means that the Egyptian campaign to prevent recognition of independent Somaliland (former British Somaliland) has been reinvigorated, and military aid given to Somalia (former Italian Somaliland) to help overrun the Republic of Somaliland, thus cutting Ethiopia’s trade link through Somaliland’s port of Berbera.

The discontent in Egypt — and Morsi’s search for a foreign distraction — coincided with the start of work on Ethiopia’s major Great Millennium Dam (aka the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam), which some Egyptians have claimed, without evidence, would take Nile waters away from Egypt. The coincidence of the timing has proven explosive, although the Morsi Government had already initiated discreet steps to re-escalate indirect hostilities against Ethiopia.

The Egyptian military knows that Egypt is not in a position — even allied with neighboring Sudan — to take direct military action against Ethiopia, but Pres. Morsi had begun returning to the confrontational approach with Ethiopia which had characterized the former governments of Pres. Hosni Mubarak. The move away from this approach, which had failed to gain any traction against Ethiopia or other upstream riparian states, began under the post-Mubarak military Government of Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi with an initiative aimed at achieving negotiated results.

Pres. Morsi, on assuming power in Egypt, discovered during his visit to Addis Ababa for an African Union summit in 2011, that the Great Millennium Dam project would proceed, although Ethiopian officials assured Egypt that this would not interfere with the flow of water to Egypt. The dam was expected to produce 6,000 megawatts of power, and its reservoir was scheduled to start filling in 2014.

An independent panel of experts concluded that the dam would not significantly affect downstream Sudan and Egypt, but Younis Makhyoun (Zakaria Younis Abdel-Halim Makhyoun), leader of the ultraconservative Salafist al-Nour party, said on June 3, 2013, that Egypt should back rebels in Ethiopia or, as a last resort, destroy the dam. The Morsi Government, in fact, had already begun that action, using the allied Sudanese Government of Pres. Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir to support Ethiopian radical Islamist leaders sitting in exile in Khartoum. These leaders prompted major anti-Government demonstrations to take place in Addis Ababa in the first days of June 2013. One, on June 1, 2013, involved some 10,000 demonstrators, mostly Muslim, calling for increased religious freedom, the release of political prisoners, and so on. [Reports claiming that there were 100,000 demonstrators dramatically overstated the reality.]

What was significant was that the demonstrations attracted the support of urban, Christian youth, who saw the demonstration as a chance to protest against the Government. But it was the extreme Islamist elements which, with considerable Egyptian backing through the Khartoum connection, made the protests significant. The rally was formally organized by the secular Semayawi (Blue) Party, which received official permits for the rally, but the event was co-opted by the Islamists, making it just the event which Cairo had sought.

Not coincidentally, a senior Egyptian Ministry of Defense delegation arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia, on June 4, 2013, officially to begin discussions on an Egyptian project to rebuild the headquarters and offices of the Ministry of Defense of Somalia. However, the Egyptian delegation made it clear to its hosts that it also intended to equip, train, and rebuild the Somali Armed Forces, with the intent to support a Somalian move to assume control of the Republic of Somaliland, to its North. The independent and internationally-recognized Republic of Somaliland had joined with the former Italian Somaliland to create Somalia, on June 1, 1960. Following a massive brutalization of Somaliland by southern “Somalian” forces, Somaliland on May 18, 1991, withdrew from the union.

The Egyptian Government, however, has, since that time, ensured that the African Union (AU) and Arab League did not recognize the return to independence of Somaliland, largely in order to ensure the isolation of, by now, landlocked Ethiopia, and to limit Ethiopia’s economic viability and therefore its ability to engage in major projects on the Blue Nile headwaters. Egypt’s pressure within the (then) Organization for African Unity (OAU), later the AU, the Arab League, and on its US ally, ensured that no bid for recognition of Somaliland made headway.

That process was beginning to be reversed when elections in Somaliland on July 26, 2010, installed Pres. Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo and the Kulmiye party. Significantly, Silanyo, beset by advanced diabetes and probable dementia, has relied increasingly on Minister of Presidency Hersi Ali Haji Hassan (Somali: Xirsi Xaaji Xasan), who is essentially an ally and front for the salafist jihadi movement, al-Shabaab. He has essentially taken control of the Government. Thus, progress by the outgoing Somaliland Government with the governments of the US, Britain, and Germany for de facto recognition ended.

Egypt, then, is now advancing on several fronts in its campaign to isolate Ethiopia: through Somalia; through Sudan; through its sponsorships via a number of channels of Ethiopian Islamist and other opposition movements (including the Oromo Liberation Front: OLF); and via Eritrea (although the Eritrean option has become limited because of the paralysis of the Government there, under the ailing President, Isayas Afewerke).

Significantly, Cairo actually has no real national security case on which to base its new war. There is no evidence that the Ethiopian dam would constrain Nile water flow to Sudan and Egypt, and, anyway, there is little Egypt could do, either legally or militarily if the flow was threatened: other than to bring Ethiopia into a state of chaos.

But the major reason for the Egyptian initiative was, according to sources in Cairo, to mobilize Egyptian public opinion around Pres. Morsi. Significantly, however, by posing such a threat to Ethiopia, Egypt risks actually galvanizing Ethiopian public opinion around the Government in Addis Ababa, and perhaps creating a reason for Ethiopia to consider using water flow as a weapon against Cairo.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn, who was elected as a stop-gap leader following the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in mid-2012, has only a modest power base of his own. But his one option now may be to do what Meles had been dissuaded from doing before: to formally recognize the sovereignty of Somaliland. Hailemariam, in May 2013, promised in Parliament to defend Somaliland. Other African states have promised to recognize Somaliland, but did not want to be the first. Somaliland’s senior military officials, meanwhile, flew to Addis for talks on June 5, 2013.

The war has begun, but it may not save Pres. Morsi from the collapsing Egyptian economy, even bigger demonstrations of unrest, and even opposition to his policies of antagonizing upper Nile states

Source

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Egyptian Ignorance: The Root and Stem of All Evil

The world is our teacher, and we are all on this planet to learn life lessons and live accordingly. But, it seems some populations are not capable of learning as they stubbornly refuse to grow up by exhibiting willful ignorance and bullying behaviors.

The original Egyptians are not Arabs, but the dominant Egyptians of today, just like Libyans, Tunisians, Algerians and Moroccans, are a transplanted Arab population who occupied African lands. Arabs don’t belong in Africa! Historically speaking, Arabs brought more pain and suffering to the African continent than the Europeans. The Arabs have been enslaving Africans since prehistoric times, and the slave trade in Saudi Arabia wasn’t abolished until the 1960s. An underground traffic in slaves continues to this day, particularly in Sudan, Mauritania, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. African men were often killed and boys were castrated. Many of them died as a result. The women were used and discarded. They disappeared and another generation, fresh from Africa, replaced them as though they had never been. The atrocities continue to this days.

Egypt – which exists at the mercy of Ethiopia because of the river Nile – repeatedly demonstrates its ungratefulness by insulting Ethiopia and treating Ethiopian refugees in a cruel and inhuman way. Please read this heartbreaking report. Even the Ottoman Turks who occupied Northern Africa, the Middle East and the Balkan didn’t force their culture and language on the native populations. After 500 years of Turkish presence, the native populations of those countries were spared to speak the Turkish language. On the other hand, the Arabs force on others their unculture, religion and language. Even Ghaddafi acknowledged Arab atrocities against Africans two years before he was brutally killed by the same Arabs I am talking about:

„I regret the behavior of the Arabs… They brought African children to North Africa, they made them slaves, they sold them like animals, and they took them as slaves and traded them in a shameful way. I regret and I am ashamed when we remember these practices. I apologize for this.”

Three days ago, Egyptian Politicians meeting with Egypt’s president proposed hostile acts against Ethiopia, including backing rebels and carrying out sabotage, to stop it from building a massive dam on the Nile River upstream.

Yesterday, Dr. Amr Hamzawy, a political science professor said the following, in an interview with the Doha-based media channel Al-Arabiya.

“Egypt should not even consider entering into negotiations with Ethiopia until the Ethiopians halt all construction on the dam,, “Egypt should not be forced to sacrifice even one drop of water. Ethiopia must respect Egypt’s interests.”

When I study the history of Egypt since the arrival of Arab Muslims in the country during the 7^thcentury, when I think of how much Misery Egyptian leaders brought to the Ethiopian nation the past 1000 years, when I observe the current generation of Arab Egyptian leaders displaying so much hatred and ignorance towards the country and people of Ethiopia, I am forced to ask myself, what has changed with the mentality and behavior of Arab and arabized people since Samuel Johnson characterized them in his book, ‘Rasselas‘ back in the year 1759? Nothing!

I am personally quite convinced that if Egyptians and Ethiopians switched countries and Egypt had become the source of the river Nile, Egyptians would have exterminated Ethiopians long time ago by spewing their usual abracadabra venom on the waters of the Nile

Let’s ask the Egyptians what they would do if the source of the Nile came from Egypt

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Israel on Alert as Locusts Hit Neighboring Egypt

My note: Man of the spirit is at war now, and the enemy seeks to destroy him This is just the beginning; God’s wrath is not like our anger, it simply is is his passion to set things right. The Almighty God knows the evil plans of his enemies who are enemies of his children, the Ethiopians. Saudi minister made hostile remarks last week about Ethiopians and their prestige project, the Renaissance Dam on the river Nile.

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” [Romans 12:19]

Plague of Locusts Returns to Egypt

Israel is on a locust alert as swarms of the destructive bugs descend on neighboring Egypt ahead of the Passover holiday.

Israel’s Agriculture Ministry set up an emergency hotline Monday and is asking Israelis to be vigilant in reporting locust sightings to prevent an outbreak.

Locusts have a devastating effect on agriculture by quickly stripping crops.

Swarms of locusts have descended on Egypt, raising fears they could spread to Israel.

The locust alert comes ahead of the Passover festival, which recounts the biblical story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. According to the Bible, a plague of locusts was one of 10 plagues God imposed on Egyptians for enslaving and abusing ancient Hebrews.

Source

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ምዕራባውያን ስለ ግብጽ ለምን ዝም አሉ?

ግብጽ ኢትዮጵያ ብትሆንና ኢትዮጵያም ግብጽ ብትሆን፤ ወይም ግብጻውያን በኢትዮጵያ ምድር፡ ኢትዮጵያውያን ደግሞ በአሁኗ የግብጽ ግዛቶች ውስጥ ቢኖሩ ኖሮ ምን ዓይነት ሁኔታ ሊፈጠር ይችል ነበር?

ኢትዮጵያውያን የሚባሉ ሕዝቦች በዚህች ምድር ላይ አይኖሩም ነበር!

ግብጻውያን በአረብ ሙስሊሞች ቁጥጥር ሥር ከገቡበት ከ7ኛው ምዕተዓመት አንስቶ አሁኗ የኢትዮጵያ ግዛት ሠፍረው ቢሆን ኖሮ አባይን ሙሉ በሙሉ በመቆጣጠር ውሃውን እየበከሉ በካይሮና እስክንድርያ የሚኖሩትን ኢትዮጵያውያንን እንዲሁም በመኻል የሚገኙትን ኑብያውያንንና ኮፕቶችን መርዘው በመጨረስ መላው ምስራቅና ሰሜን አፍሪቃን ይቆጣጠሩ ነበር። ምክኒያታቸው? በጥንታዊቷ ክርስትና ላይ ያላቸው ጥላቻ!

በኢትዮጵያና በግብጽ የረጅም ዘመን ታሪካዊ ግንኙነት የአባይ ወንዝ ባለቤት የሆኑት ኢትዮጵያውያን በግብጻውያን የፖለቲካ፣ ምጣኔዊ ኃብት፣ የሃይማኖት፣ ወይም ማሕበረሰባዊ ኑሮ ላይ ምንም ዓይነት ሚና ተጫወተው አያውቁም። በተቃራኒው፡ በተንኮል ጥበብ የተካኑት ግብጻውያን ግን ከጥንት ጀምሮ ኢትዮጵያውያንን ሲተናኮሉ፣ ሲፈታተኑ ብሎም ለዓያሌ ጥፋቶችና ሞቶች ሲያበቋቸው ቆይተዋል። ምናልባት፡ ወይ ምንም ነገር የሌለው ተንኮል ብቻ ነው የሚያስበው፡ ወይም ደግሞ ቅልቅሉ የአርብ–ፈርዖኖች ደም በርግጥ በመመረዙ ምክኒያት ሊሆን ይችላል፡ ከጥንት ጀምሮ እስካሁኑ የኛ ትውልድ ድረስ ያለውን ታሪካችንን መለስ እያልን ስንመረመር በተደጋጋሚ በአገራችን ተፈጥረው የቆዩት አለመረጋጋቶች፣ ጦርነቶችና ረሃብ ነክ ስቃዮች በቀጥታም ሆነ በተዘዋዋሪ መንገድ ከግብጽ ጋር የተያያዙ መሆናቸውን እንገነዘባለን።

ይህን ሁሉ የተፈጥሮ ኃብትና ሰብአዊ ጸጋ ያላት ኢትዮጵያ በዝቅተኛ የሰብዓዊ እድገት ደረጃ ላይ በሚገኙት የአርብ ሕዝቦች እስከ አሁን እንዴት እየተታለልች ልትቆይ ቻለች? የሚለውን ጥያቄ ሁላችንም አጥብቀን ልንጠይቅ ይገባናል። እስኪ ልብ ብለን እንመልከት፤ መሬቶቻችንን እንኩ! ወንዙን እንኩ! በጎቹን እንኩ! ፍራፍሬውን እንኩ! ጥራጥሬውን እንኩ! ቡናውን እንኩ! እህቶቻችንን እንኩ! ልጆቻችንን እንኩ! እግር ኳስ ጨዋታውም የሚያሳየው ይኽንኑ ነው፡ ባልጎደለ ችሎታ፤ ኳሱን እንኩ! የሞኝነታችንን ምክኒያት በቶሎ አብረን ልንፈልግ ይገባናል።

በዓይናቸው የሚታያቸውን ነገር ብቻ በመጨበጥ ለቆዳ ቀለማቸውና ለስጋቸው ብቻ የሚኖሩት አውሮፓውያንና አሜሪካውያን ምንም ነገር የሌላትን ግብጽን መርጠው በመደገፍ ሞኞቹን ኢትዮጵያውያንን አሁንም ግራ በማጋብትና በማተራመስ ላይ እንደሚገኙ የአሁኑ የኢትዮጵያ ትውልድ ከእንቅልፉ ነቃ ነቃ በማለት ለግንዛቤ እየበቃ መሆኑ የሚያበረታታ ነው። እስካሁን ድረስ እንደ እባብ ብልህ ለመሆን አሻፈረኝ ሲሉ የቆዩት ኢትዮጵያውያን ከፈጣሪ እግዚአብሔር አምላክ በቀር ሌላ ማንም የላቸውም። በዚህች ምድር ላይ፡ ምናልባት ከእስራኤል በቀር፡ እንደ ኢትዮጵያ ብዛት ባላቸው ጠላት አገሮች የተከበበች አንዲትም አገር የለችም። ለኢትዮጵያ ወዳጅ የሆነች አገር፡ ወይም በክፉ ጊዜ ከርሷ ጋር አብሯት ሊሰለፉ የሚችሉ ሌሎች ሕዝቦች በጭራሽ የሉም። ግብጽ ግን፡ እራሷ የራሷ ጠላት ካልሆነች በቀር ማን ሌላ ጠላት አላት?… ያው እያየነው አይደል!

ግብጽን ‘በመምራት‘ ላይ የሚገኙት ቅዥታሙ ፕሬዚደንት ሙርሲ ሰሞኑን በፈላጭ ቆራጭነት የሚፈጽሟቸውን ዓይነት ድርጊቶች የኢትዮጵያ ወይም የሌላው አፍሪቃ መስተዳደር ቢፈጽም ኖሮ፤ ከአውሮፓ፣ ከአሜሪካ እንዲሁም የ“ሰብአዊ መብት” ታጋዮች ነን ከሚሉት ድርጅቶች በኩል ሊመጣ የሚችለው ተጽእኖና ጣልቃ ገብነት ምን ሊመስል እንደሚችል መገመት አይከብደንም። ሰሞኑን ግብጽ ውስጥ 60 የሚሆኑ ግብጻውያን በሙርሲ አርበኞች ተገድለዋል፣ ፕሬዚደንቱም እንደ አምባገነን መሪ በተለያዩ ከተሞች የሰዓት ዕላፊ አዋጅ በማውጣትና ለሠራዊታቸውም የተኩስ መክፈት ትእዛዝ በማስተላለፍ የአምባገነናዊ ባሕርይ ያላቸው መሪ መሆናቸውን በድጋሚ አረጋግጠዋል።

ታዲያ ይህ በእንዲህ እያለ፡ ለአፍሪቃው ህብረት ስብሰባ ወደ አዲስ አበባ ለመሄድ አሻፈረኝ ያሉት ፕሬዚደንት ሙርሲ በዛሬው ዕለት ወደ ጀርመን አገር ይጓዛሉ፡ በጀርመን የሚገኙትም የሰብአዊ መብት ተከራካሪዎች እንዲሁም ኮፕት ክርስቲያኖች የተቃውሞ ሰልፍ በበርሊን ለማድረግ ተዘጋጅተዋል።

እንግሊዝ: ኮንጎ በሚካሄደው የነፃነት ትግል ሳቢያ ኢትዮጵያውያኖቹን የቱሲ ጎሣ አርበኞች በመቃወም አንድ ቀን ባለሞላ ጊዜ ውስጥ በሩዋንዳ ላይ የገንዘብ እርዳታ ማዕቀብ ለማድረግ በቅታለች። የሕዝቡን ጩኽት መስማት የተሳናቸው የግብጹ ፕሬዚደንት ሙርሲ ግን የሙስሊም ወንድማማቾቹ አሜሪካዊ፡ የ ማልኩም ኤክስ ልጅ እንደሆኑ ከሚነገርላቸው ከፕሬዚደንት ኦባማ የማበረታቻ የስልክ ጥሪ ይደረግላቸዋል፣ በውጭ ጉዳይ ምኒስትሯ፡ በክሊንተን የጋዛ ሰላም ፈጣሪ ተብለው ሊሞገሱም በቅተዋል፡ በአውሮፓው ህብረት፣ በሳውዲና ኳታር እንዲሁም በዓለም ዓቀፍ ገንዘብ ሰጭ ድርጅቶችም የብዙ ቢሊየን ዶላር ስጦታ እየተበረከተላቸው ነው፡ የአውሮፓው ህብረትም እስከ 5ቢሊየን ዮሮ ለሙርሲ ግብጽ ለመስጠት በመነጋገር ላይ ነው፡ ፕሬዚደንት ሙርሲ ጀርመን የሚጎበኙት ንዘብ ለመለመን መሆኑ ግልጽ ነው።

የማይክሮሶፍቱ ቢል ጌትስም ለግብጽ ኢኮኖሚ ድጎማ በማድረግ ለማዳበሪያ ምርት እስክ አንድ ቢሊየን ዶላር ከኪሳቸው በማውጣት ለግብጽ የሕዝብ ቁጥር ማደግ አስተዋጽኦ ሲያበረክቱ፡ እዚህ ይመልከቱ፤ በኢትዮጵያ ግን በተቃራኒው ሴቶቻችን እንዳይወልዱ ክትባቶችንና የወሊድ መከላከያዎችን በትጋት ማሠራጨቱን መርጠዋል። እዚህ ይመልከቱ።

ዓለም ግራ ተጋብታልች፡ በቅርቡም ሁሉም የሚገባቸውን ያገኛሉ!

በተጨማሪ ይህን ይመልከቱ፡ የ አውሮፓ–አሜሪካና የ ዐረቦች ጥፋታዊ ኅብረት

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Revolt on the Nile: Religion & Politics

The following interesting study can help us understand the never ending cunning path Egypt follows in restricting and manipulating Ethiopia from using, or diverting the waters of the river Nile. For the time being, Egyptian politicians and leaders of the Coptic church will of course be used by Muslim religious elites, as clients or lobbyists, with a long-term strategic agenda to influence the Ethiopian political landscape. The current charm offensive performed by Egyptian parliamentarians and their Prime Minister will certainly be culminated with visits, to Ethiopia, of high-ranking Coptic leaders.

Eric Chaney, Harvard University, February 22, 2011

Can religious leaders use their popular influence to political ends? This paper explores this question using over 700 years of Nile flood data to investigate the extent to which religious leaders derived political influence (defined as monetary transfers from the military) from their control over popular support. In finding evidence consistent with such popularly-derived influence, it provides the first empirical evidence sup-porting the key premise of theories stressing the importance of religion in generating institutional outcomes.

Results show that deviant Nile floods reduced the dismissal probability of Egypt’s highest-ranking religious authority by roughly one-half. Qualitative evidence suggests this decrease reflects an increase in political power stemming from famine-induced surges in the religious authority’s control over popular support. Additional empirical results support this interpretation by linking the observed probability decrease to the number of individuals a religious authority could influence. The paper concludes that the results provide empirical support for theories suggesting religion as a determinant of institutional outcomes.

Recent research suggests that political freedom is correlated with a country’s primary religious affiliation both historically and today. Political rulers seem to have generally satisfied the demands of the religious elites to the extent necessary to prevent rebellion.

Continue reading…

Diverting The Nile in Myth and Legend

 

“If the Ethiopian monarch really controlled the Nile, he would “have had all Egypt at his Devotion”, for the Turks would “deny him nothing”

 

The Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt the ‘Gift of the Nile’, and so it truly was until the construction of the Aswan Dam. The waters which swelled the Nile during the rainy season in Ethiopia sent a huge volume of water down to Khartoum via the Blue Nile, which there joined the White Nile, and so down to Egypt. The ancient Egyptians dated their years by this event, the season of the Inundation. All over the lands bordering the Nile in the long river valley, a rich dark silt was deposited when the waters went down, rendering Egypt so fertile that its ancient name was Kheme, the Black Land.

The ancients knew where the waters came from, even if later ages forgot. An Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription mentions that a downpour in Punt (nowadays identified as the Sudan/Ethiopia border region) caused the Nile to flood. A natural preoccupation of the Egyptians was attempting to predict the quantity of the inundation each year. Nilometers were constructed so that the rate of flow could be measured, and it could early be seen how ample the waters were likely to be. Incidentally, the record of these can now be employed to reconstruct possible climate trends in Ethiopia as well.

Nothing could impede the massive flow of the stately river. Or could it? Just this doubt sometimes nagged at the minds of the Egyptians, for whom the failure of the Nile caused disastrous famine. It was unfortunate that, sitting right where the largest flow of the waters had its source, was the kingdom of the negusa nagast, King of kings of Ethiopia. This Christian king, by a curious anomaly, received his bishops, always Egyptians, from the patriarch of Alexandria, who lived in Egypt under Muslim jurisdiction. Not infrequently, the kings of Ethiopia were embroiled in rows with Egypt over treatment of Christians and similar matters. Could they interfere with the flow of the Nile? Some thought yes, others rejected the idea.

An early mention of an incident involving the damming of the waters of the Nile is attributed to the patriarchate of Cyril II (1078-92). The story goes that a terrible famine in Egypt was caused by the king of Ethiopia damming the Nile. The Fatimid caliph, al-Mustansir (1039-1094) ordered Patriarch Cyril to send an agent to try to have the dam broken through representations to the king; and this was successful. The Egyptian bishop of Ethiopia, it seems, had also protested at the plan, but had been unable to convince the king. In another version, it was the Patriarch of Alexandria himself who was sent by al-Mustansir, bearing rich gifts. The king met him with reverence and enquired why he had come. After hearing the explanation, the king commanded certain works which restored the flow of the river.

The story, whose main theme recurs not infrequently, seems to be one exploited by the Coptic Christians to influence their treatment at the hands of the sometimes hostile authorities in Egypt. It was nice to know, or at least to say, that down in the mysterious mountains of Abyssinia there was a great king who, at the mere whisper of persecutions for his Christian brothers in Egypt, could react with a terrible weapon. The legendary tone of these tales, however, is probably confirmed by the silence in the official History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria about what would have been so emphatic a propaganda feature for the patriarchate.

Nevertheless, the Ethiopians themselves certainly believed or pretended to believe that they could control the flow of the waters of the Nile, or at least tried to exploit the Egyptians’ belief that they could. For example, in the reign of Emperor ‘Amda-Tseyon of Ethiopia, in the year 1326, when Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad b. Qala’un was ruler of Egypt, the chronicles mention that envoys from Ethiopia arrived in Cairo. They bore a letter from the emperor, which declared that the sultan should rebuild a number of churches which had been demolished (in 1324), and that the Christians should be well treated. Failing this, he threatened to destroy the mosques in his kingdom, and to tamper with the flow of the Nile. The sultan merely laughed at this and dismissed the embassy. The first threat was a tangible one, and the emperor was throughout his reign engaged in conflict with neighbouring Muslim states. But there has never been any hint – and certainly no demonstrable works – which would encourage the belief that an Ethiopian emperor actually made real efforts to block the Nile.

Still, the story was enjoyed in Ethiopia, entering into the folklore of the country. A book called the Matshafa Tefut relates it again with sovereign disregard for mere chronology, muddling a number of events into a new tale. The Egyptian ruler in the story is Caliph Marwan (745-751). The Patriarch of Alexandria is called Michael. He was arrested, and Sayfa Arad (1344-1372), king of Ethiopia, is said to have invaded Egypt and compelled the ruler to release him. When Sayfa Arad died, the patriarch was re-arrested. But another Ethiopian king, Dawit I (1382-1411), came down to Khartoum to commence the alteration of the waters of the Nile. Ahmad, Merwan’s son, duly released the patriarch, and offered an indemnity. But the religious King Dawit preferred a fragment of the True Cross to all the gold of Egypt, and this was sent instead.

The idea that the Nile could be tampered with in Ethiopia grew widespread. Arnold von Harff, between 1496 and 1499, observed that Ethiopian pilgrims were given all sorts of privileges when they passed to and from Jerusalem, when for others impediments were put in the way by the Muslim authorities. He added the old explanation; “no injury must be done them, lest the river Nile should be stopped”. Savants in Europe continued to argue the pros and cons of the question, particularly when, from 1520, Jesuit priests began to bring back some real information about Ethiopia.

Centuries later, we find an Ethiopian sovereign delivering the same threat. A letter from Emperor Tekla Haymanot I in 1706 to the authorities in Cairo confirms this. A dispute arose because of impediments in the free transit of ambassadors to and from Ethiopia. The king threatened that “The Nile might be made the instrument of our vengeance, God having placed in our hands its fountain, its passage, and its increase, and put it in our power to make it do good or harm.”

What is the reality of the old stories? Very likely, in the days of Cyril II of Alexandria and others, there were real failures of the rains in Ethiopia, with concurrent famine in Egypt. When the low Nile had been noted, it may be that messengers were on occasion sent to Ethiopia, particularly if, by coincidence, some misunderstandings had actually occurred between the two countries. The Ethiopian kings doubtless did nothing to discourage the idea that they were responsible, gaining credit for the next season’s liberal Nile. Whatever the case, nowadays elaborate international treaties govern the flow of the Nile for all the countries which share its waters.