It was another diplomacy-heavy night on the talk shows, topped by Ethiopia’s latest heated exchange with Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s surprise visit to Cairo also got coverage (watch, runtime: 3:41) — we have more on that up top in What We’re Tracking Today.

GERD is always good for a slow news day: Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 4:57) had a lot to say about Ethiopia’s latest claim that Egypt is “politicizing the Nile waters” by opposing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. “Ethiopia is deliberately lying … it doesn’t care about the welfare of either Egypt or Sudan,” Moussa said, branding the project “a dam of doom.” The Foreign Ministry rejected Ethiopia’s accusation in a statement yesterday.

AND- More on the chicken feed shortage: The state needs to release the feedstock stuck in our ports to help ease the ongoing feed shortage, Tharwat El Zeiny, deputy chairman of the Egyptian Poultry Association, told Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 6:36). “Soybeans are currently being traded at EGP 42k a ton on the black market, when the actual value is around EGP 20-22k a ton,” he said.

REMEMBER- Egyptian poultry companies have struggled to obtain chicken feed over the past year as capital controls and a shortage of foreign currency prevents importers from bringing supplies into the country. The Supply Ministry is selling imported yellow corn to poultry feed factories through the EGX’s commodities exchange to try and ease the feed crisis.

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