CAIRO, Jun 1 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt rejected yesterday, the statements of Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed that, Ethiopia will build a number of dams across the country.
In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said, Ahmed’s statements reveal once again that, Ethiopia is dealing in bad faith with the Nile River, and other international rivers that it shares with neighbouring countries.
On Sunday, Ahmed announced that Ethiopia will build more than 100 small- and medium-sized dams in various states of the country.
“Egypt has always recognised the right of all Nile Basin countries to establish water projects and exploit the resources of the Nile River, in order to achieve development for its brotherly peoples. But these projects and facilities must be established after coordination, consultation and agreement with the countries that may be affected, especially the downstream countries,” said the ministry statement.
The statements of the Ethiopian Prime Minister are nothing but a continuation of the regrettable Ethiopian approach that ignores international law that regulates the use of international rivers.
Egypt and Sudan have been raising concerns about Ethiopia’s decision to unilaterally carry out the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) later this year, as what it did last year, without reaching a legally binding agreement on the rules of filling and operating the dam.
Both Egypt and Sudan seek to form an international quartet of the African Union, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, to mediate a desired agreement.
Ethiopia started building the GERD in 2011, while Egypt is concerned it might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-metre annual share of the Nile water. Sudan also raised similar concerns over the dam.
Over the past few years, tripartite talks on the rules of filling and operating the giant hydropower dam, with a total capacity of 74 billion cubic metres, have been fruitless, including those hosted earlier by the United States and the African Union.– NNN-MENA
