Saudi General has strong opinion about the Ethiopian dam...

I realize that this is a month behind, but here is an article about some Saudi General slamming Ethiopia for building the Grand Renaissance Dam. The article was published in the Sudan Tribune in February. They claim it is a major calculated threat to downstream Sudan and Egypt. Where did this come from???? In the photo he looks like he means business.

A Saudi general goes berserk against The Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam

Tigrai Online Feb. 27, 2013

Saudi deputy defense minister Khalid Bin Sultan goes berserk against The Grand Renaissance dam.

KHARTOUM) – A senior Saudi Arabian official unleashed a barrage of attack against Ethiopia saying that the Horn of Africa nation is posing a threat to the Nile water rights of Egypt and Sudan.

"The [Grand] Renaissance dam has its capacity of flood waters reaching more than 70 billion cubic meters of water, and is located at an altitude of 700 meters and if it collapsed then Khartoum will drown completely and the impact will even reach the Aswan Dam," the Saudi deputy defense minister Khalid Bin Sultan said at the meetings of the Arab Water Council in Cairo.

"Egypt is the most affected party from the Ethiopian Renaissance dam because they have no alternative water source compared to other Nile Basin countries and the establishment of the dam 12 kilometers from the Sudanese border is for political plotting rather than for economic gain and constitutes a threat to Egyptian and Sudanese national security "the Saudi official said.

Tigrai Online view

We are not sure this unprovoked attack by the Saudi General is a calculated policy move by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or a moronic military general sticking his anprofessional neck to a diplomatic hot water , either way Ethiopia needs to take a stern action immediately against this speech.

At the end his speech would not have any effect what so ever on building the Grand Renaissance Dam, but it would be very advisable for the Ethiopian government to refute it before it adds any negative light towards the great project on the Egyptian and Sudanese public opinion.

Does this Einstein general know that it is only Ethiopia and only Ethiopia that would decide what to do with its natural resources? Even if there is any shortage of water in Egypt, he can’t do squat to change it. We know Saudi Arabia couldn’t spare a drop of water for Egypt even if the whole population is dying from thirst because they don’t have any, so why making the unpractical bluff fake speech? Is it designed to take away the ever increasing public tension in the Kingdom? Or is it to mask some other internal political problem? We think the general and his country are better off sticking to their own business instead of messing around issues that has nothing to do with them.

Source Sudan Tribune:
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article45666