CAIRO — As part of extensive diplomatic actions to shore up support for Egypt in the Nile dam dispute, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry has toured seven Arab capitals — Amman, Muscat, Baghdad, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait City and Manama — since March 7. He also went on a European tour that included Belgium and France on March 11, in addition to another tour of the African continent on March 17 to Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa, Congo, South Sudan and Niger. Meanwhile, a delegation from the Foreign Ministry covered a number of other Arab countries including Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania on March 15.
Shoukry’s tours carried a single message from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the Arab and European region to mobilize positions in support of the Egyptian stance against Ethiopia’s failure to sign the comprehensive agreement to fill and operate the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which was reached under US auspices during meetings that took place within four months, from November 2019 to February 2020.
