On the Nile, Egypt cuts water use as Ethiopia dams for power

"Egypt deals with the Nile water issue as a life-and-death matter," said Moufid Shehab, Egypt's minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs. "The River Nile provides Egypt with 95% of the country's water needs."

The 4,160-mile-long Nile is formed by the White Nile, which originates near Lake Victoria in Uganda, and the Blue Nile, which begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. They converge in Sudan and flow north through the length of Egypt before spilling into the Mediterranean Sea.

The river winds through poverty and turmoil and is vital for economic growth to sustain rising populations. It is a lesson in how water can dictate a nation's future, and threaten or preserve regional stability.

"The way forward," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Al Jazeera satellite TV channel, "is not for Egypt to try and stop the unstoppable."