Last Night’s Talk Shows: Aboul Gheit talks GERD, conflict in Ukraine
Leading the airwaves yesterday: Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit discussed the GERD crisis, as well as the war in Ukraine and its impact on the region, in a wide-ranging interview with Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 1:39:33)
Ethiopia wants to “suffocate downstream countries Egypt and Sudan'' by filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without having reached an agreement with Cairo and Khartoum, Aboul Gheit told Moussa (watch, runtime: 3:06). The way the UN Security Council has dealt with the Ethiopian dam crisis is “regrettable”, he added.
The council has repeatedly declined to weigh in on the dispute despite concerted lobbying by Egypt and Sudan for a stronger stance against Ethiopia.
The crisis in Ukraine is the driving force behind US President Joe Biden’s mooted visit to the region, Aboul Gheit says (watch, runtime: 6:00), as Western allies attempt to shore up energy supplies to Europe to replace Russian fossil fuels. Europe is currently reliant on Russia for some 40% of its natural gas. “Regions able to provide gas supplies [to Europe] are the Gulf, West Africa and Algeria or Latin America’s Venezuela,” according to Aboul Gheit.
MEANWHILE IN TOURISM-
- State-owned hotels do allow women under 40 to stay alone, Assistant Tourism Minister Abdel Fattah Al Assi told Salet El Tahrir (watch, runtime: 11:48), in response to a debate on social media over hotels that allegedly have a policy of turning unaccompanied women away.
- Unaccompanied children under the age of 16 must show ID to enter archaeological sites and museums on weekends and national holidays, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities Mostafa Waziri told El Hekaya’s Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 7:58). The decision comes after a group of boys harassed two female tourists at the Giza Pyramids in May.