Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is to visit Uganda for bilateral talks with his counterpart President Yoweri Museveni.
EagleOnline has exclusive learnt that the one day state visit will discuss among others the issue of the Nile waters. Egypt, controls over 50 per cent of the Nile waters.
Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Don Innocent Wanyama confirmed the visit.
Egypt and Ethiopia are at loggerheads over Addis Ababa’s plan to build a US $4.2 billion, 6,000-megawatt dam on a major tributary of the Nile River that Egypt says will greatly reduce the flow of water that is Egypt’s lifeline.
Tension between the two nations rose sharply two years ago after Ethiopia rejected Egypt’s demand it suspend construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the 4,130-Nile river, the world’s longest.
Egypt has vowed to protect its “historical rights” to the Nile “at any cost” and says it could lose 20 per cent of its water if the giant dam in northwestern Ethiopia, one of several hydroelectric projects planned by Addis Ababa, is completed.
Egypt, contribution towards Uganda include, technical assistance to the agriculture sector, removing of water hyacinth and recently opened an abattoir worth US $24 million (Shs80 billion) at Bombo.
This will be the second time in four that an Egyptian President visits Uganda, the last time being 2012 when jailed former president, Mohamed Morsi came for celebrations for Uganda at 50 years.
