How often does the letter "a" occur in:
The Cairo government said this week it would demand the project be halted, after its southern neighbor began diverting a stretch of the river to make way for the US$4.7 billion dam that will become Africa's biggest hydropower plant.
Ethiopia said it had summoned Egypt's ambassador to explain comments by politicians in Cairo advising Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to take hostile action to halt the building of the dam.
“In any case, demanding a halt is simply a non-starter. It's not subject to negotiation,” spokesman Getachew Reda told Reuters.
Ethiopia has set out plans to invest more than US$12 billion in harnessing the rivers that run through its rugged highlands and to become Africa's leading power exporter.
Now 21-percent complete, the Grand Renaissance Dam will eventually have a 6000-megawatt (MW) capacity and is central to Ethiopia's plans to become Africa's leading exporter of power.
“Whether sabotage will be on menu, that remains to be seen,” Getachew said, adding that past attempts by Egypt under former president Hosni Mubarak to destabilize Ethiopia through support to insurgents had failed.

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The given text has 86 "a"s.
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