A new agreement by five African states on Nile water sharing has been a wake-up call for Egypt, which has long considered the river its own, analysts say.
Until now, Cairo had distanced itself from any discussion that would change the favourable terms of treaties signed in 1929 and 1959, guaranteeing the lion's share of Nile waters to Egypt.
The new agreement by Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda - that is more favourable to their interests - is considered a "death sentence" for Egypt, which is now trying to engage in discussions to ensure it is not left out of a process that is vital to its future.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stressed that his country did not intend to back down from the new agreement over water sharing, and invited Egypt to make concessions.
"Some people in Egypt have old-fashioned ideas based on the assumption that the Nile water belongs to Egypt," Mr Zenawi recently told Al-Jazeera television.
"The circumstances have changed and changed forever," he said, adding that "the way forward is not for Egypt to try to stop the unstoppable. The way forward is to seek a win-win solution through diplomatic efforts".
Egypt's 80 million inhabitants draw about 90 per cent of their water needs from the Nile. Cairo maintains that, even by the favourable terms of current agreements, its water needs cannot be met by the Nile alone after 2017.
"The announcement (of the new agreement) is considered by the majority of Egyptians as a death sentence to a nation that has long been described as 'the gift of the Nile'," the University of Cairo's Nader Noureddine wrote in the Al-Ahram weekly.
Initially, after the new agreement by the five African states, Egypt launched an urgent diplomatic offensive, hardening its alliance over the issue with Sudan, another recipient of Nile largesse under existing treaties.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak raised the subject in Rome last Wednesday, while the Egyptian press denounced Italian companies involved in Nile water projects, particularly in Ethiopia.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reassured Mr Mubarak, saying: "We pledged... to undertake diplomatic moves towards certain countries, starting with Ethiopia, with whom there are still outstanding problems, primarily with regard to the use of Nile waters."
Always active on the diplomatic front, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga is expected in Cairo today, and Egyptian delegations are awaited in Ethiopia and Uganda.
The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, and Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza, two countries of the Nile basin which have stayed out of the face-off with Egypt, are also expected in Cairo over the coming weeks.