Mereja.Forum

[Fiyameta]

Back in 1996 when TPLF and Eritrean leaders were in good terms, both President Isaias and Meles Zenawi traveled to Cairo, Egypt, to attend the signing ceremony of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty. During a luncheon that President Mubarak was hosing for the visiting African heads of state, a high ranking Egyptian official saw Meles Zenawi walking through the crowd wearing a bow tie and mistook him for one of the cocktail waiters and flagged him to freshen up his drink.

Enraged by what was an innocent mistake, Meles told President Isaias that he was going to teach the Egyptians a lesson they will never forget. His weapon of choice to exact revenge against the Egyptian official was to build a dam along the Nile River to constrict Egypt's water supply. For the highly sensitive Meles, building the dam was personal, not a national interest.