Egypt sends warning to Ethiopia over refusal to sign Nile dam agreement
Egypt said yesterday it would use “all means available” to protect the interests of its people, a thinly veiled warning to Ethiopia after it refused to sign an agreement to regulate the operation of the giant dam it is building on the Nile.
Egypt, the most populous Arab nation with 100 million people, depends on the river for more than 90 per cent of its water.
It has maintained, throughout years of negotiations, that any agreement should cover reducing the economic impact of the dam’s operation to manageable levels.
To Addis Ababa, the $4 billion (Dh14.69bn) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become a symbol of national pride and a centrepiece in its ambition to become Africa’s largest power exporter, a feat that would match its growing political leverage in the region.
Egypt signed the agreement in the latest round of negotiations held in Washington on Thursday and Friday. Ethiopia stayed away from the talks after it asked for a delay to allow for more internal consultations on the issue, a statement released late on Friday by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
The US government, with the World Bank, has for months been mediating in the dam dispute, with several rounds of talks held in Washington.
Sudan also did not sign the draft. Like Egypt, it is a downstream country, but it would not be significantly affected by the dam.
Mr Mnuchin’s statement pledged that Washington would continue to work with the three nations until an accord was signed, an upbeat scenario that Egypt yesterday appeared not to share, given what Cairo sees as Addis Ababa’s intransigence and time-buying tactics.
“All Egyptian bodies will continue to give the issue the maximum attention it deserves as part of shouldering their national responsibilities to defend with all means available the interests of the Egyptian people, their fate and future,” a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
The Egyptian government has publicly refrained from threatening military action to halt the Dam’s construction, but top officials, including President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, have repeatedly referred to the country’s share of the river’s water as an existential issue and said Cairo would never accept major water reductions imposed by Addis Ababa. But some pro-government social media influencers have been urging the government to take military action, arguing that Cairo has already tried and failed to resolve the issue through negotiations.
Egypt, the ministry’s statement said, has in the past five years “negotiated in good faith and with a genuine political will to reach an agreement that satisfies the interests of all three nations, but the tortuous negotiations did not bear fruit”.
Egypt, it continued, decided to sign the agreement because it felt that it protected its water interests. “Egypt is looking forward to Sudan and Ethiopia following suit, accept the agreement and sign it as soon as possible,” it said.
In last month’s round of negotiations in Washington, the three countries agreed on a schedule for a staggered filling of the dam’s reservoir and mitigation mechanisms during dry periods and drought, but said they still needed to finalise details on safety and how to resolve future disputes.
Mr Mnuchin’s statement praised the agreement for addressing “all issues in a balanced and equitable manner” and “provides for the resolution of all outstanding issues on the filling and operation of the Gerd”.
It said Washington appreciated Egypt’s “readiness” to sign the accord and was looking forward to Ethiopia concluding its internal consultations on the issue and signing the agreement as soon as possible.