Ethiopian Prime Minister have arrived Riyadh on Sunday and have been warmly welcomed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif at the King’s Air Base.
A warm welcome for the Ethiopian delegation in Riyadh raised the question of the possibility of increasing Saudi-Ethiopia cooperation and the use of the Nile water issue for putting pressure on Egypt.

The tension between Egypt and Ethiopia has been escalated after arresting two Egyptian citizens in Ethiopia on charges of spying. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry asked Ethiopian government to free those two Egyptians and vindicated Egypt’s role in the conspiracy against Ethiopia when he attend the meeting of Libya’s neighboring countries in Addis Ababa two weeks ago.

On the other hand, Ethiopia accuses Egypt of supporting the recent protests in the country and the violence after that.

Relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia are corrupted for Cairo’s independent stances on regional developments, particularly the Syrian crisis. It seems the Saudi government tries to put pressure on Cairo by developing its relation with Ethiopia.