Egypt's double standards on sovereignty

Politicians caught plotting against Ethiopia

By Brian Whitaker

"Foreign plots, real or imagined, are the bread and butter of Arab politics. No country guards its sovereignty more jealously than Egypt and even the merest hint of external interference is liable to bring a tough response – hence the jail sentences imposed yesterday on 43 NGO workers accused of receiving funds from abroad.

But the sovereignty principle doesn't necessarily apply when Egypt is the country doing the interfering.

On Monday, President Morsi held a "national dialogue" meeting with senior politicians from various parties to discuss Ethiopia's construction of a dam on the Blue Nile – a move that will affect Egypt's water supplies.

Those attending assumed the discussions were private but Morsi had decided the issue was so important that the discussions should be broadcast live. 

Unfortunately, presidential officials forgot to tell the other politicians who – unaware that others were listening – came up with a succession of ideas for pressurising (or scaring) Ethiopia into changing its mind about the dam.

• Abul Ela Mady, chairman of the Wasat Party, suggested sending army destroyers to the Bab al-Mandab strait at the entrance to the Red Sea and spreading rumours that Egypt wass about to attack the Ethiopian dam.
• Yunis Makhyun of the conservative-Islamist Nur Party
  proposed offering support to Ethiopian rebels in order to "put pressure on the Ethiopian government."
• Ayman Nour of the liberal Ghad Party proposed spreading rumours that Egypt was buying advanced military planes (which he described as an intelligence technique of intimidation). He also suggested Cairo send political, intelligence and military teams to Addis Ababa because "we need to intervene in their domestic affairs".

The presidential office has now apologised for embarrassment caused to the politicians by not telling them about the broadcast. But so far there has been no apology to Ethiopia.

While many Egyptians have been shocked by the incident, some have been amused.

TV talk show host Reem Magued commented: "It's true that we asked for transparency from the government, but not like this ...""