Egypt’s prime minister says his just-completed visit to Ethiopia has opened a “whole new environment” for settlement of the longstanding dispute over sharing the waters of the Nile River. 


"The new government in Egypt, we declared very clearly that we believe we are Africans, and African-African relations are very important for our future and the future of the continent," said Sharaf.

Sharaf said his talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had built an atmosphere of cooperation on a range of issues, beginning with the Nile water dispute. 

“What we are doing now is to create a whole new environment for discussions and exchanging ideas," he said.

Egypt has long used two colonial-era treaties as a basis for claiming the vast majority of Nile waters and blocking upstream development. That position has irritated upstream countries, which are on the verge of ratifying a new treaty giving them greater access to the waters for development. 

Ethiopia, the source of 85% of the Nile’s flow, recently began construction of a massive hydropower project that will make it an energy exporter.

Sharaf suggested his government sees the Mubarak-era policy as a mistake. “Remember, nobody can prevent a country from applying its development plans and using energy, and using the concept that all should be winners, because you have huge resources, and based on that there will be discussion and an exchange of ideas, and I’m sure the environment has been completely changed.”

Ethiopian officials called Cairo’s new attitude refreshing after years when Egyptian opposition blocked critical financial assistance for Nile development projects.

In a sign of a thaw in bilateral relations, Prime Minister Meles earlier this month agreed to postpone ratification of the new water sharing treaty until Egypt holds fresh elections in the next few months.

Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti called Sharaf’s tone a “promising dawn," and “quite a different attitude from the old regime.” He added, however, that lasting change would only be possible once Egyptian voters elect a new government.

Egypt’s interim military-backed regime has moved quickly to satisfy the demands of the country’s still restive protesters.

While acclaimed for their lightning speed, the extraordinary measures are a strategic move for the men now ruling Egypt. The detention order was enforced only after the senior Mr. Mubarak, 82, was taken Tuesday afternoon to the international hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he maintains a palatial home. Mr. Mubarak, it was reported, had been admitted, complaining of heart trouble.

“They got what they wanted,” said a Cairo business consultant with ties to Mubarak-related enterprises. “In fact, the protesters have gotten everything they asked for,” he said in disbelief.

“A lot of people don’t think this was necessary,” he said, referring to the police detentions. “This man was the head of state, a war hero. He’s old and sick.”

“People are worried about the economy, not settling scores,” he said. “They want to move forward.”

They may want to move forward, but they can’t forgive what Mr. Mubarak has done, said Hisham Kassem, past chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and founding editor of al-Masry al-Youm, Egypt’s only independent daily newspaper. “There is zero sympathy for him,” he said.

“He shows no regret for anything he did,” agreed a Western diplomat, referring to a statement made Sunday by the ousted president on al-Arabiya Television, the only public words the former president has issued since leaving office Feb. 11.

“I think that statement was a big reason why the military acted to have him detained,” he said. “They didn’t want the protesters inflamed again.”

Since Mr. Mubarak’s ouster, Egypt has been ruled by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, with its head, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Egypt’s Defence Minister for 20 years, acting as head of state.

“The military finds itself in a difficult situation,” says Karim Alrawi, an Egyptian playwright and human-rights activist. “It’s been a beneficiary of the Mubarak regime for so long, therefore it owes him; yet, now it’s placed in the uncomfortable position of being the revolution’s guardian and expected to act against the enemies of the revolution.”

Mr. Alrawi, however, says the military has rationalized its actions.

“The one group it wants to win over is the Muslim Brotherhood’s old guard,” he said.

“The generals believe that an alliance between themselves, the Muslim Brotherhood and the remnants of the once dominant National Democratic Party is workable, going forward.”

The Brotherhood, Mr. Alrawi believes, is the key to keeping the army’s conscripts in line and the military’s own vested economic interests in place.

To achieve that, “Mubarak, his family and entourage are a price that must be paid, unless the army is prepared to take on the revolutionaries head-on,” he said. “So far it does not seem willing to do so.”

Another force appears also to have figured in this week’s actions.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal made an unexpected visit to Cairo Tuesday, meeting with top officials for only a few hours before flying off again.

No communiqué was issued, but the House of Saud considers Mr. Mubarak its most loyal ally in the campaign against Iran’s growing influence in the region. The well-connected consultant believes Prince Saud would have made it clear that his family would not like to see Mr. Mubarak prosecuted.

Saudi Arabia said recently it plans to invest $50-billion (U.S.) in Egypt, the consultant said. “It may well cancel those plans if Mubarak is put on trial.”

“I’m sure the army wishes Mubarak would just die,” the diplomat said. “It would save them this headache.”

“Of course then they’d have the problem of what kind of funeral he’d have.”

Egypt's vice president has opened unprecedented talks with a range of opposition factions, including the officially banned Muslim Brotherhood, on a blueprint for reforms to resolve a nearly two-week-long popular uprising against the government.

Bursts of heavy gunfire are ringing out in Cairo's Tahrir Square, and a protest organizer says three anti-government demonstrators have been killed.

Mustafa al-Naggar says he saw the bodies of three dead protesters being carried toward an ambulance before dawn on Thursday. He says the automatic weapons fire directed into the square came from at least three locations off in the distance.