Egypt rejects Ethiopia’s continued filling of Nile dam

Cairo, Egypt | Xinhua | Egypt sent a letter on Friday to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to object to Ethiopia’s continued filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

“Egypt completely rejects Ethiopia’s continuation of filling the GERD unilaterally without reaching an agreement with Egypt and Sudan,” said Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in a letter addressed to the UNSC.

Shoukry noted while Egypt adhered to the need to reach an agreement on the GERD that meets the common interests of the three countries, it will not tolerate any prejudice to its rights, water security or any threat to the capabilities of the Egyptian people.

He called on the UNSC to ensure the implementation of its presidential statement which obligates the three countries to negotiate in order to reach an agreement on the dam at the earliest possible opportunity.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the country had received a message from the Ethiopian side on July 26 that Ethiopia is continuing to fill the reservoir of the dam during the current flood season.

The GERD negotiations held by Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have been suspended since April 2021, following marathon talks that lasted for years without yielding results.

The deadlock led Sudan to propose changing the negotiation methods by expanding the African mediation umbrella to include the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.

Ethiopia, which started building the GERD in 2011, expects to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity from the dam, while Egypt and Sudan, both downstream Nile Basin countries, are concerned that the dam might affect their share of the water resources. ■