It was a diplo-heavy night on the airwaves, with the nation’s talking heads focusing on a potential resolution to the years-long Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute and Egypt’s efforts to resolve the crisis in Sudan.

A GERD resolution on the horizon? President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Ethiopian Premier Abiy Ahmed over the weekend agreed to once again revisit the GERD dispute with the aim to find a solution within months.

Why the Egyptian rethink? “One of the main points of disagreements was the duration of the filing, with the Ethiopian side persistent that the filling be three-years long, while the Egyptian side was talking about an 8-10 year filling,” Khaled Okasha, general manager of the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies, told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 3:14). The dam has been in the works since 2011 and the filling started in 2020 yet “our water supplies have not been harmed over the past years,” he added.

And why the Ethiopian change of heart? “Ethiopia has a desire to cooperate with Egypt in a number of important African issues including the Sudanese crisis … without Cairo, Addis Ababa won’t be able to manage what is happening in Sudan,” he added (watch, runtime: 2:17).

More coverage: El Hekaya’s Amr Adib also had the news (watch, runtime: 3:51). We have all the details in this morning’s Diplomacy, above.

The response in Sudan to the Cairo summit: The outcomes of the Egypt-hosted summit of Sudan’s neighbors last week were welcomed by the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support forces, Nabd Sudan editor-in-chief Emad Al Sanousi told Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 9:33). “The outcomes align with the Sudanese people’s aspirations,” he added. We have the full story in the news well, above.

Also on the airwaves last night:

  • Your sweet tooth won’t kill you: Artificial sweetener Aspartame, mostly used in diet sodas, is now classified by the WHO as a potential carcinogen but it is safe for consumption within the daily limit — which according to Kasr El Einy Professor Ashraf Omar, is 14-15 cans per day. Goodbye, teeth. (Kelma Akhira | watch, runtime: 1:21) | (El Hekaya | watch, runtime: 4:27)
  • Not everyone is happy about Travis Scott playing the pyramids: US rapper Travis Scott will unveil his new album with a live performance at the pyramids later this month, but the gig is generating opposition from some quarters due to his response to a fatal crowd crush at his Astroworld Festival in 2021, according to Al Hayah Al Youm’s Mohamed Sherdy (watch, runtime: 3:33).
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