Egyptian pope speaks on the construction of Ethiopian Dam

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Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II has said Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has a “national duty” to stand for president in upcoming polls.

“Egyptians see him as a saviour and the hero of the 30 June revolution,” Tawadros said during an interview with Kuwait’s Al-Watan TV channel on Saturday.

Tawadros also condemned the Arab uprisings, which began in Tunisia in late 2010 before spreading to Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain.

The uprisings “known as the Arab spring, were neither a spring nor an autumn,” he said. “It was an Arab winter brought by malicious hands to our Arab region to break up its countries into smaller states.”

Meanwhile, on the construction of Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam, Tawadros claimed its negative impact would be felt in Egypt, Sudan and the whole African continent.

Egypt has voiced concern over the dam on the Nile river, which supplies most of its water needs.

Talks on the dam between Egypt and Ethiopia have failed to broker an agreement. Ethiopia insists the dam will not affect Egypt’s water supply, while Egypt argues not enough research has been conducted into the dam’s possible impact.

Tawadros II was selected as Egypt’s 118th Coptic Orthodox Pope in November 2012, succeeding Pope Shenouda III who passed away in March 2012.