Egypt - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

Egypt says talks over Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have failed -statement

EGYPT said the latest talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) had failed but it would monitor the process of filling and operating the dam. "Egypt reserves its right, in accordance with international charters and accords, to defend its water and national security in case of any harm," Egypt's Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement. In a statement, Ethiopia's foreign ministry said Egypt had "misrepresented" Ethiopia's positions in the talks, adding that Egypt's "colonial era mentality and erected roadblocks against efforts toward convergence". Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority monitoring tensions in Red Sea

NEWS

EGYPT'S Suez Canal authority said that it was closely monitoring the impact of tensions in the Red Sea after recent attacks by Yemen's Houthis on vessels in the southern part of the basin. Two major freight firms including MSC, the world's biggest container shipping line, said on Saturday they would avoid the Suez Canal as Houthi militants stepped up their assaults. The authority is "closely following the consequences of current tensions," the body's chairman, Osama Rabie, said in a statement. Maritime traffic in the canal was currently normal, he added, without going into further detail. Iran-aligned Houthis have launched attacks against vessels…

Nov

2023

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

NBA App gets a boost in Africa with new docuseries

BASKETBALL

NBA Africa's first original docuseries, dubbed 'Born & Bred', a five-part documentary telling the stories of five NBA prospects from Africa, has premiered on the NBA App. The series tells the stories of NBA prospects from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Sudan and it features exclusive footage and interviews with the prospects, family members, friends, and coaches. According to Franck Traore, NBA Africa Head of Basketball Operations, the series showcases "the inspirational stories of prospects from across the continent who have come to NBA Academy Africa to take the next step in their basketball development journeys and lives.” NBA…

Nov

2023

By AIDAN LEWIS

Egypt climate envoy sees international funds helping developing industries decarbonise

ENVIRONMENT

A financing scheme that draws on funding from Western donors to help developing countries shift to cleaner power generation could be mirrored for heavy industries and other hard-to-abate sectors, Egypt's climate champion said. Extending a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) structure to sectors including steel, aluminium, cement and fertilisers made sense because of new European Union rules that would otherwise penalise developing world exporters, U.N. Climate Change High-Level Champion Mahmoud Mohieldin said in an interview. The rules, under the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), would have "serious implications" for countries exporting to Europe, said Mohieldin. "I'm checking countries including…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza extended two days under deal

WORLD

MEDIATOR Qatar said that a truce between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare that has killed thousands and laid waste to the Palestinian enclave. "An agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian pause for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip," a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said in a post on social media platform X. There was no immediate comment from Israel, but a White House official confirmed an agreement had been reached. Hamas also said it had agreed a two-day extension to the truce with…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Premature Gaza babies evacuated to Egypt as Israeli tanks encircle second hospital

WORLD

TWENTY-EIGHT prematurely born babies evacuated from Gaza's biggest hospital were taken into Egypt for urgent treatment, while Palestinian authorities and the WHO said 12 people were killed at another Gaza hospital encircled by Israeli tanks. The newborns had been in north Gaza's Al Shifa hospital, where several others died after their incubators were knocked out amid a collapse of medical services during Israel's military assault on Gaza City. Israeli forces seized Shifa last week to search for what they said was a tunnel network belonging to Hamas Islamists built underneath. Hundreds of patients, medical staff and displaced people left Shifa at the…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

IMF may need to augment Egypt program amid Gaza war impacts, Georgieva says

BUSINESS

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters that the Fund was "seriously considering" a possible augmentation of Egypt's $3 billion loan program due to economic difficulties posed by the Israel-Hamas war. Georgieva told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit that the conflict is "devastating" Gaza's population and economy and has "severe impacts" on the West Bank's economy and is also posing difficulties for neighbouring countries Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan through the loss of tourism and higher energy costs.

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Evacuations from Gaza Strip resume through Egypt’s Rafah crossing

NEWS

EVACUATIONS from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign passport holders and Palestinians needing medical treatment resumed through the Rafah crossing after being suspended for a day, Egyptian security and medical sources said. Departures from Rafah, the only crossing to the besieged enclave that does not border Israel, had been paused on Wednesday for a second time following bombardments on the route within Gaza leading to the border. The Red Cross said its convoy escorting medical evacuees on Tuesday had been targeted, prompting it to pause the escorts. On Thursday, two sources said that 695 foreign passport holders and dependents, including Egyptians, were able to cross.…

Nov

2023

By PATRICK WERR and SARAH EL SAFTY

Egypt’s stumbling economy faces new pressures from Gaza crisis

BUSINESS

EGYPT'S struggling economy faces new risks as the war in the neighbouring Gaza Strip threatens to disrupt tourism bookings and natural gas imports. Oil-rich Gulf countries, which repeatedly propped up Egypt's finances with deposits over the past decade, had recently shifted to seeking profitable investments instead. Now they may step up assistance once more, analysts and bankers say. The Gaza war on the border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula comes after the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic exposed long-standing frailties in the Egyptian economy. Egypt had relied heavily on inflows of short-term portfolio investment, tourism revenues…

Nov

2023

By HUMEYRA PAMUK and SIMON LEWIS

Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed due to security

NEWS

The Rafah border crossing into Gaza was closed due to an unspecified "security circumstance" but U.S. officials were working with Egypt and Israel to get it reopened, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said. Rafah, which is controlled by Egypt and does not border Israel, is the only point of aid delivery since Israel launched a military assault and siege of Gaza in retaliation for an attack by Hamas militants from the coastal strip on October 7. Evacuations of foreign passport holders through the crossing were suspended on Saturday and Sunday after an Israeli strike on an ambulance that was heading…