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.
Major General Ahmed Abdel Halim, a security and strategic expert,
said that a diplomatic solution is the best way of handling this issue,
while adding that striking the dam would not bring the aspired results.
He also said that, as a last resort, Egypt could present its case
to the International Court of Justice, the Security Council, and the
International Criminal Court.
Edited translation from MENA
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