Ethiopia was the first to welcome Egypt's return to the African Union after the union’s Peace and Security Council decided to end the suspension of its membership, ambassador Mahmoud Dardir said Wednesday.
The Ethiopian ambassador told Al-Masry Al-Youm his country was the first to offer felicitations during the session which witnessed the decision on Tuesday.
Referring to a recent phone call by Ethiopia’s foreign minister congratulating his newly-installed Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shokry for the appointment, Dirdir said the relationship between the two countries will soon undergo a rapprochement. He added that talks would resume concerning the controversial Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Relations between Cairo and Addis Ababa were strained when Ethiopia began to construct the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, despite Egypt's request to hold off until adequate studies of safety and water distribution had been undertaken. Egypt fears the project would affect its historic share of the Nile River water.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
