New York police said early Sunday, the head of the International Monetary Fund has been charged with criminal sexual assault, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment following a complaint by a hotel maid.
New York police said 62-year-old Dominique Strauss-Kahn was apprehended while sitting on an Air France plane that was idle on the tarmac at JFK international airport before its takeoff to Paris. Police said he was not handcuffed, but taken off the plane and into custody.
A 32-year-old maid told authorities she had entered his room earlier in the day at the Sofitel hotel near Manhattan's Time Square and that he had tried to sexually assault her. After she reported what had happened, she was taken to an area hospital. Hotel staff were cooperating with authorities.
The Reuters news agency reports that an attorney for Strauss-Kahn says he will plead not guilty to the charges at an arraignment police say is expected later Sunday.
The IMF in Washington says it has no comment on the case.
In 2008, Strauss-Kahn, who is married to a famous former French television newscaster, was investigated over whether he had had an improper relationship with a subordinate employee from the fund's Africa division.
An investigation board said his actions had been regrettable, and reflected a serious error in judgment, but also that the relationship had been consensual.
Heading into the 2012 French presidential race, Strauss-Kahn was considered a leading contender in the crowded opposition Socialist Party to challenge incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy.
But in the past few weeks, there had been repeated reports in French media criticizing him for what was considered an excessive and luxurious lifestyle in Washington. His aides denied the charges, saying these were part of a campaign orchestrated by his political opponents.
One of his lawyers told French radio, the attacks were unjust and unbearable.
Candidates for the Socialist Party primary are due before the middle of July.
Late Saturday, French media commented Strauss-Kahn's arrest could cost him the top job at the IMF which he has held since 2007 as well as any chance at the French presidency.
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has met with visiting Libyan opposition leaders seeking support for their cause, a day after the United States stopped short of granting the opposition Transitional National Council (TNC) full diplomatic recognition.
President Sarkozy met with council leader Mahmoud Jabril in Paris on Saturday. Officials have not released any details of the meeting.
The TNC delegation met with U.S. national security adviser Tom Donilon and other officials in Washington on Friday. After the meeting, the White House released a statement calling the TNC a "legitimate and credible" voice for the Libyan people, but stopped short of a full diplomatic recognition of what Jabril was seeking.
Meanwhile, explosions continued to hit the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Saturday.
Outside the city, mourners buried 11 people, reportedly killed in a NATO airstrike Friday. Commemorative gunfire and angry chants punctuated the funeral.
A Libyan government spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, said the airstrike killed 11 imams in the eastern city of Brega. The alliance responded by saying it is very careful in its selection of targets and had attacked a military command and control site in Brega.
NATO later said it could not confirm or deny civilian casualties.
On Friday, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi assured his people that he was alive and in a place where NATO bombs could not reach him. His comments came in an audio message carried on Libyan state television, after an Italian official said there were unconfirmed reports that Gadhafi was "probably" wounded after weeks of NATO air strikes.
Separately, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he will seek arrest warrants next week for three people considered responsible for crimes against humanity in Libya.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo did not reveal the names of the suspects in his statement Friday, but Mr. Gadhafi is expected to top the list. Those charged will face accusations of murder and persecution.
Since February, Colonel Gadhafi's forces have carried out a brutal crackdown against anti-government demonstrators.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Yemeni security forces have opened fire on protesters calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, wounding more than 30 people.
Medics and witnesses say the violence took place Saturday in the southern city of Taiz.
Also Saturday, the head of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdullatif al-Zayani, arrived in Yemen's capital, Sana'a, to try to revive a Gulf-brokered plan that calls for Mr. Saleh to resign, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Mr. Saleh has refused to sign the plan.
On Friday, Mr. Saleh told supporters in Sana'a he has no immediate plans of leaving his post. He spoke as thousands of anti-government activists gathered in the capital and elsewhere in Yemen demanding his resignation.
Witnesses say at least three people were killed Friday after security forces opened fire on demonstrators.
The plan brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council calls for Mr. Saleh to transfer power to a deputy. Mr. Saleh has said he will not sign the plan in his capacity as president, but will only sign it as leader of the ruling General People's Congress party.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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Pakistan's parliament has adopted a resolution condemning the U.S. raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, while U.S. groups are demanding release of photos and video of the military raid and aftermath.
Pakistan's Senate and National Assembly held a joint session Friday during which the lawmakers quizzed the head of the nation's intelligence agency and senior military leaders.
After the closed-door session, the two chambers called for an independent commission to investigate the whole incident.
In the U.S. Friday, Judicial Watch - a conservative legal watchdog - filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the Defense Department after the Pentagon said it would not meet the group's 20-day deadline for releasing photographs of the raid on bin Laden's compound.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department told the Associated Press, in a letter, there was no compelling need for the release of the photographs.
U.S. President Barack Obama said last week the death photos of bin Laden would not be released to avoid further inciting anti-American sentiment overseas.
U.S. officials announced Friday that a stash of pornography was discovered in bin Laden's hideout. Officials said it was not clear who the material belonged to, and there was no way to know whether bin Laden had viewed it.
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Water is flowing out of one gate at the Morganza spillway north of Louisiana's capital of Baton Rouge in an effort to save that city and New Orleans from the flood waters of the Mississippi River. The urban areas may come through unscathed, but many people in the path of the diverted flood water will not be so lucky.
The man who made the decision to open the Morganza spillway for the first time in 38 years, US Army Corps of Engineers Major General Michael Walsh, says he hopes this action will prevent a major disaster as the cresting flood waters move closer to Louisiana's urban zones, shipping lanes and oil and gas infrastructure. "The crest right now is still up in Arkansas, it has not yet come down here. So this is certainly going to be a marathon and not a sprint as we go through this tremendous amount, huge amount of water as it comes down," he said.
Floods caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 damaged large sections of New Orleans and forced tens of thousands of people to leave the city and it has yet to fully recover. Any flooding at this time would represent a major setback for the city. High water on the lower Mississippi could also disrupt oil and gas operations in the area and shut down shipping activity at the port of New Orleans, the sixth largest port in the United States.
Only one of the Morganza's 125 floodgates was opened Saturday, with the expectation that one or two more will be opened on Sunday. Colonel Ed Fleming, also with the Corps of Engineers, told reporters it is necessary to work slowly and carefully in opening the floodgates. "There is a slow opening for a lot of reasons; one is that the water comes out of here pretty quickly and you do not want to scour the backside of this structure. From an environmental perspective, obviously there are lots of bear and other wildlife and we want to make sure they have the opportunity to get to higher ground," he said.
This is the first time the Morganza spillway has been opened for flood control since 1973. It is part of a flood control system built in the decades following the disastrous flood of 1927 that claimed around 1,000 lives.
About 25,000 people and some 11,000 structures lie in the path of the water that is being released from the spillway over the coming week or so. Many residents of the area have already taken what possessions they could carry and have moved out. Many farmers in the area are losing crops in the fields to the diverted flood water. In Morgan City, an oil industry and fishing port near the Gulf of Mexico, officials have fortified levees to protect buildings and residences.
Even with the release of water from the Morganza spillway, flood waters on the Mississippi river could still cause some disruptions to normal energy and shipping operations in the days ahead. Exxon Mobil has already closed some of its pipeline operations in the region as a precaution and a number of refineries may also have to shutdown temporarily.
The flooding was caused by snow melt and heavy rains in northern states that has been carried south by the Mississippi and its tributaries. Upstream from Louisiana, flooding from the Mississippi has taken a hard toll on people and farms in low-lying areas around Memphis, Tennessee and Vicksburg, Mississippi.
President Barack Obama plans to visit some of the flooded areas on Monday.
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Unrest in the Middle East is spreading to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem during a funeral for an Arab teenager killed in protests marking the Naqba, or "catastrophe" of Israel's creation in 1948. Palestinians threw stones and police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Relatives of the dead teenager say he was shot by a Jewish settler during a protest on Friday but Israeli police says it's not clear who shot the youth.
Following the example of the Egyptian Revolution, the Palestinian protests were organized on Facebook. They call for three days of demonstrations, culminating with mass protests on Sunday, May 15, which is the annual Naqba Day.
Palestinian analyst Mohammed Dajani says the Naqba is an important commemoration because when Israel became a state, the Palestinians became homeless.
"They would like to commemorate the Naqba so that it will remain in the memory and support the right of the Palestinians to a Palestinian state," he said.
Fearing that the protests could turn violent, Israeli security forces are on high alert. Israel's Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch says police and soldiers have been ordered to act with maximum restraint in order to avoid an escalation.
"We are keeping a low profile," he told reporters. Aharonovitch said security forces would prevent any Palestinian attempt to disturb the peace or block roads, but he added that he hopes the demonstrations will pass quietly.
On Friday, thousands of Arabs in neighboring Jordan and Egypt demonstrated in support of the Palestinians.
The unrest comes as American Middle East envoy George Mitchell announced his resignation, ending more than two years of failed efforts to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The fear is that in the absence of a peace process, there could be a new eruption of violence.
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Dozens of families fled across the Syrian border into Lebanon Saturday after Syrian tanks surrounded the town of Tel Kelakh, 20 kilometers from Lebanon. Witnesses say at least three people were killed by government troops on Saturday. The crackdown in Tel Kelakh comes amid government claims that the army is pulling out of the flashpoint cities of Daraa, Banyas and Homs and that the government is opening a dialogue with the opposition.
Arab satellite channels showed Syrian families crossing by foot into Lebanon Saturday to escape a military crackdown in the nearby town of Tel Kelakh. Hundreds of men, women and children crossed a stream dividing the countries, as gunfire crackled on the Syrian side of the border.
Witnesses say Lebanese Red Cross ambulances were waiting at the border to ferry wounded Syrians to a local hospital.
The fighting and exodus into Lebanon came despite Syrian media claims that the government had set up a committee to hold a dialogue with the opposition. The Syrian daily Al Watan insisted that a high-level committee had been set up to meet with the opposition and discuss reforms.
Syrian government media claims that Salafists and other Islamic extremists are trying to overthrow the government. Saturday, it insisted that extremists were trying to set up an Islamic emirate in Tel Kelakh, forcing the army to intervene. Opposition groups called the charges "bogus."
Hundreds of mourners chanting slogans against the government marched in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun Saturday to bury a man shot by security forces during Friday protests. Activists say at least six people were killed after the army and government militiamen opened fire on protesters.
Human rights groups say that more than 750 people have been killed in Syria in eight weeks of protests against the government. Pro-government militiamen have conducted door-to-door dragnets in dozens of towns and cities, arresting thousands of people with alleged ties to the opposition.
Syrian TV also claimed that over 6,000 Syrians had turned themselves in for a government amnesty, claiming that they were released afterwards. Citizens of several cities also told Syrian TV that they were "happy that the army had moved in to restore order" and to "arrest thugs."
Syrian Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud told journalists Friday that the army was pulling out of the flashpoint cities of Banyas and Daraa, as the government prepares to open a dialogue with the opposition.
Veteran Syrian human rights activist Michel Kilo told al Jazeera TV, however, that the opposition would not hold a dialogue with the government "until thousands of political prisoners are released." Syrian TV showed President Bashar al-Assad meeting with artists, insisting he listened to their ideas to "improve sectarian relations in the country."
Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, questioned the Syrian government's sincerity about holding a dialogue, following its bitter and bloody crackdown. "Calling for national dialogue all over Syria, I think, is another stalling technique. The regime is trying to buy more time. I mean, why [did they wait] until now to [open a] dialogue. The regime said repeatedly that they have authorized security forces not to open fire on protesters, yet they do, and they open fire with vengeance. So, I'm not going to take what they say at face value," he said.
Khashan argues that "the main grievance of protesters is freedom" and that their movement appears to be gaining momentum, despite the government crackdown. He adds that the "spark is starting to spread across Syria," and that what began as a rural movement is progressing to large cities, and is in the process of engulfing Damascus and Aleppo.
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed three key Cabinet ministers.
State media reports say the president released the ministers of oil, mines and social welfare on Saturday.
The ISNA news agency says the dismissals are part of restructuring plan that calls for Ahmadinejad to trim the number of ministries from 21 to 17. There was no immediate word on who would take over the duties.
In a separate development, Iran has postponed the implementation of a court order that calls for a man who blinded a woman with acid to be punished in the same manner.
State media reports quote judiciary officials as saying Saturday's retribution penalty for Majid Movahedi had been put off indefinitely.
The victim of his attack has called for the "eye-for-an-eye" punishment. Majid confessed to throwing acid in the woman's face in 2004 after she turned down his marriage proposals.
On Friday, the Amnesty International rights group urged Iran not to carry out what the group called a "cruel" sentence.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Belarusian opposition leader Andrei Sannikov was sentenced to five years in prison Saturday after being convicted on charges of organizing mass protests following the country's disputed presidential elections last December.
The 57-year-old Sannikov was one of seven presidential candidates arrested on December 19 as thousands of people protested in Minsk after President Alexander Lukashenko won re-election.
Four other former presidential candidates are on trial in Belarus. The arrests and trials of those who either challenged Mr. Lukashenko or demonstrated against his disputed victory are part of a wider crackdown on those seen as opposing the authoritarian leader.
The United States condemned Sannikov's conviction and said it considers him and other detained candidates to be political prisoners.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the harsh sentences and ongoing trials are "clearly politically motivated." He called on Belarus to immediately release all political prisoners and end human rights violations against critics of the government.
The crackdown on the Minsk demonstration, which resulted in the arrests of hundreds of opposition activists and dissidents, has been condemned by human rights groups and Western governments.
President Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet republic since 1994, won re-election in December with 80 percent of the vote, but international observers have said the election was flawed.
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Haiti's new president is promising change for the impoverished Caribbean nation, still struggling to recover from last year's devastating earthquake.
Thousands of supporters cheered as former pop star Michel Martelly delivered his inaugural address Saturday on the grounds of the collapsed presidential palace in the capital, Port-Au-Prince.
The 50-year-old performer known to Haitians as "Sweet Micky" pledged to build a better and stronger Haiti, to end injustice and restore order. And seeking to reassure foreign donors and potential investors, Mr. Martelly promised guarantees for investments and private property.
The new president was sworn in earlier Saturday. He takes over from Rene Preval, who took off the blue and red presidential sash at the swearing-in ceremony and put it on Mr. Martelly. This is the first democratic transfer of power from one party to another in Haiti's turbulent history.
But in a sign of the infrastructure challenges Mr. Martelly has inherited, a power cut plunged the ceremony into darkness just moments before the oath of office.
Haiti was crippled by the January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and made one million others homeless. Hundreds of thousands of people still live in tent camps, and millions continue to rely on non-governmental organizations to meet their basic needs. Mr. Martelly also faces the political challenge of working with a legislature controlled by the opposition party of Mr. Preval.
International donors have pledged billions of dollars in aid to help Haiti rebuild, waiting for the new government to take office before releasing it. But Mr. Martelly faces more challenges than just repairing the quake damage. Even before the quake struck, Haiti was the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, and was plagued by political violence and lawlessness, corruption and natural disasters.
Saturday's ceremony was attended by thousands of people displaced by last year's earthquake alongside dignitaries including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, current United Nations mission chief Edmond Mulet, and presidents of other Caribbean states.
Two former Haitian leaders, ousted ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and one-time dictator Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier, both live in the island nation, but did not attend the ceremony.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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Authors of a U.S. report released this week [Thursday, May 12] revealing a very high number of rapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo are defending their work after criticism from advocates, U.N. officials and other researchers.
Congolese women's advocate, American author Eve Ensler was one of many who reacted strongly to the new report. In a blog posting that was widely discussed in social media, she asked "who needs another report?". She also asked, in her words, "why should people waste precious time when we know the facts, and have known the facts for over 13 years?"
U.N. officials have called Congo the rape capital of the world. The numbers of the new report indicate that during the study's one-year time frame, between 2006 and 2007, the number of rape victims was estimated at 400,000, or 26 times higher than what the United Nations has been reporting.
One of the study's authors, Tia Palermo, from Stony Brook University, said that was one of the reasons the research was conducted.
"We knew that the estimates were implausibly low. The U.N. estimates, the 15,000 that is generally quoted in the media and reports, comes from reports to U.N. of sexual violence and rapes that can be substantiated," said Palermo. "So this relies on people coming forward to report sexual violence and that is why our numbers differ. We are not saying they are incorrect because their numbers are what has been reported. It is just based on reports, whereas ours is a population-based sample where we go into the households and ask all women in their households in private their experience with sexual violence, so they are very different methodologies."
The lead author of the study, Amber Peterman, from the International Food Policy Research Institute, said even their own higher numbers are underreporting the tragedy. The study was conducted only with women of reproductive age, excluding older women, girls and even men who also have been raped.
Peterman also said stigma, shame and fear preclude many women from reporting rapes even when they are asked. The study also revealed a very high percentage, over 22 percent, of women reporting being victimized by domestic sexual violence.
Results were extrapolated from a group of 3,400 interviewed women.
Previous reports also indicated rapes were being committed at alarming levels not only by roving bands of competing armed groups, but also by husbands and boyfriends amid a near total collapse of state institutions.
A U.N. official dealing with sexual violence, Beatrix Attinger Colijn, was quoted as saying the numbers in the new report were not reliable because they were too old, and they did not take into account local factors. She also said the study was limited.
But the authors of the study defended themselves against this type of criticism, saying methods they used were consistent with those used by leading research agencies to assess HIV and infant mortality rates around the world. They also said that unlike most reports about sexual violence in the Congo, their study was nationwide, and not just focused on the conflict-wracked east.
Palermo said continually updated knowledge about the crisis is important. "We do not think that any one study on the subject should be the final word and we encourage people to consider our study along with others, such as those conducted by the Harvard Humanitarian Institute and a recent study in the Journal of American Medical Association published back in August of last year," she said.
As for the release of results four years after the study was conducted, Palermo said that was not an unusual period to go from data collection, to availability, analysis and publication.
The director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Michael VanRooyen, also expressed reservations about the sampling methods, but he was quoted as saying the important message remains, and other advocates said it had been reinforced with the study, that in Congo what they call a war against women is taking place.
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U.S. President Barack Obama is announcing a new initiative to increase domestic oil production, while moving toward lowering the country's dependence on imported oil.
In his weekly address Saturday, Obama said his administration plans to extend drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico, and sections of Alaska.
The president says his team is looking at ways of simplifying the permitting process in Alaska that will impact oil prices in future.
Obama admits his initiatives will not impact current gasoline prices.
President Obama says a task force is now looking to root out fraud and any suspected price fixing, which may influence what consumers pay at the pump.
Obama is also calling on Congress to vote down next week the $4 billion in tax incentives for energy companies that raked in billions in profits this year.
He says the country would be better served by investing in clean energy technology.
In the Republican weekly address, Congresswoman Martha Roby called for the government to cut spending and address soaring gas prices. She said the cost of energy is directly related to the cost of hiring workers and running businesses.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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The head of the International Monetary Fund has been arrested in New York City and accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid.
New York police spokesman Paul Browne says Dominique Strauss-Kahn is in custody and was being questioned Saturday evening. Police say the French national was pulled from his first class seat on an airplane Saturday evening that was just minutes before taking off for Paris.
He has not yet been charged.
Police say a 32-year-old chambermaid at the Sofitel Hotel says she entered Strauss-Kahn's hotel room to clean it early on Saturday afternoon. The maid told police Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom unclothed and attempted to force her into performing sex acts. She escaped the room and told other hotel personnel, who called the police.
Police say when they arrived at the hotel, Strauss-Kahn had already left for the airport, leaving behind his mobile phone and other personal items.
The maid has been treated for minor injuries at a local hospital.
Strauss-Kahn took charge of the IMF in November 2007. The former French Finance Minister is considered a leading contender to run as the Socialist Party's candidate against President Nicolas Sarkozy in France's 2012 election. Some say Mr. Sarkozy supported Strauss-Kahn to become the IMF director as a ploy to keep him away from French politics.
Strauss-Kahn is married to a prominent French television reporter, but has weathered previous sex scandals. In 2008, he apologized for what he termed "an error in judgement" for an affair with one of his subordinates.
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, plans to end the 30-year-old Space Shuttle program later this year. For the first time since the United States put a man in space, it will not immediately have a vehicle available to get astronauts into orbit, or to the International Space Station. Several veteran astronauts are concerned about the immediate future of the U.S. space program.
"The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth," said Jim Lovell, who became one of the first astronauts to orbit the moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 as millions of people on Earth watched in awe. It put the U.S. space program closer to landing a man on the moon, something it accomplished a year later.
"I run into people now in their early 50s or 40s who were kids when I made my flights, and they say, 'You know, you were the inspiration that got me into being an engineer, or scientist,' or something like that," said Lovell.
One of those inspired was Pamela Melroy, who became an astronaut and commanded the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2007.
"I believe Apollo inspired generations of students, and I think the Space Shuttle will too," said Melroy.
Lovell is concerned, though, that without a space shuttle, or a U.S.-made replacement vehicle, a new generation will not benefit from the inspiration and enthusiasm generated by a robust space program.
"I have been a critic of the way the space program is going because it's been a major part of my life and I'd like to see it continue," he said. "I'm afraid that everything is going to bog down."
The end of the shuttle program began in 2003, when the orbiter Columbia disintegrated while returning to Earth. All seven astronauts died. Melroy was on the team that investigated the disaster.
"I think the tragedy of Columbia was such a scar for all of us, that I think that there are a lot of people who believed the shuttle was ultimately too flawed to continue to fly," she said. "I'm not sure if I necessarily agree. I do think it was time to go on and go out of low Earth orbit, but I think the mishap did at least remind everybody that it is a dangerous business."
Another motive behind ending the shuttle program was the rising cost. NASA says the price tag for a shuttle launch is about $450 million. Lovell points out that the money funds jobs and spurs development on Earth.
"Not one cent is spent in space. It's all spent right here on Earth. And it's spent to do things that will result in new technology for not just activities in space, but that spread throughout the entire infrastructure of this country," said Lovell.
President Barack Obama unveiled his vision for the U.S. manned space flight program last year. It involves developing technology that will someday put an American on Mars, but not back on the moon. Melroy thinks that should be reconsidered.
"It's really hard to make a six-month trip without at least a little bit of practice, so the moon is kind of an obvious choice. An asteroid is an equally obvious choice. I think actually they have technical pros and cons, but I think that you are going to see, before we make that giant leap, super giant leap, out to Mars, we're going to have to practice somewhere first," said Melroy.
Obama's vision for future space flight also encourages private companies to develop the next generation of vehicles that will put humans in orbit. Right now, U.S. astronauts will have to rely on Russian-built Soyuz space capsules to get to and from the International Space Station.
"And they are charging us $60 million apiece, but I kind of think that in the long run will be fairly inexpensive compared to all the money we are going to put into all these private people to do the same thing," he said.
NASA recently awarded $75 million to Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to develop a successor to the Space Shuttle. The company says its vehicle, which was successfully tested in December, can put astronauts into orbit at a cost of $20 million each. Their Dragon capsule will be able to carry the same compliment as a shuttle - seven people - into orbit at a time.
SpaceX plans to fly its first manned mission into space in 2014, three years after the last Space Shuttle orbits the Earth.
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Egypt's prime minister says his just-completed visit to Ethiopia has opened a "whole new environment" for settlement of the longstanding dispute over sharing the waters of the Nile River.
As he completed a two-day visit to Uganda and Ethiopia, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf signaled an end to Egypt's tepid relations with Sub-Saharan Africa that characterized the Mubarak era.
"The new government in Egypt, we declared very clearly that we believe we are Africans, and African-African relations are very important for our future and the future of the continent," said Sharaf.
Sharaf said his talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had built an atmosphere of cooperation on a range of issues, beginning with the Nile water dispute.
"What we are doing now is to create a whole new environment for discussions and exchanging ideas," he said.
Egypt has long used two colonial-era treaties as a basis for claiming the vast majority of Nile waters and blocking upstream development. That position has irritated upstream countries, which are on the verge of ratifying a new treaty giving them greater access to the waters for development.
Ethiopia, the source of 85% of the Nile's flow, recently began construction of a massive hydropower project that will make it an energy exporter.
Sharaf suggested his government sees the Mubarak-era policy as a mistake. "Remember, nobody can prevent a country from applying its development plans and using energy, and using the concept that all should be winners, because you have huge resources, and based on that there will be discussion and an exchange of ideas, and I'm sure the environment has been completely changed."
Ethiopian officials called Cairo's new attitude refreshing after years when Egyptian opposition blocked critical financial assistance for Nile development projects.
In a sign of a thaw in bilateral relations, Prime Minister Meles earlier this month agreed to postpone ratification of the new water sharing treaty until Egypt holds fresh elections in the next few months.
Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti called Sharaf's tone a "promising dawn," and "quite a different attitude from the old regime." He added, however, that lasting change would only be possible once Egyptian voters elect a new government.
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