President seeks to calm tensions over Nile River dam

CAIRO — Egypt’s president on Monday sought to defuse tensions with Ethiopia and Sudan, reassuring them that his country was not meddling in their internal affairs or planning to go to war against them.

Egypt has expressed mounting alarm over a soon-to-be-completed upstream dam in Ethiopia that Cairo fears could cut into its share of the Nile River, which provides nearly all its fresh water. It has accused Sudan of siding with Ethiopia, and of reviving a long-standing border dispute.

But in televised comments, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Egypt’s strategic choice was peace, not war.

“Egypt neither conspires nor meddles in in anyone’s internal affairs. We are determined to have good relations (with Sudan and Ethiopia). Our region has seen enough the past few years,” he said. “We are not prepared to go to war against our brethren or anyone else for that matter. I am saying this as a clear message to our brothers in Sudan and Ethiopia.”

The Egyptian leader also called on his country’s media to cease attacks on Sudan, saying it should follow the example of his administration which, he said, refrained from insulting its neighbors even in the face of intentional slights.

Egypt says Ethiopia is not doing enough to ease its concerns about the effects of filling the reservoir behind the dam, which is expected to begin soon and could cut into Egypt’s share of the Nile.

Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential for its economic development and argues that the vast majority of its 95 million people lack electricity, which the dam’s hydroelectric plant will generate.

Ethiopia also accuses Eritrea, a regional ally of Egypt, of training rebels to carry out sabotage attacks on the dam.

Egypt, with a population roughly equal to Ethiopia’s, has traditionally received the lion’s share of the Nile’s waters under agreements reached in 1929 and 1959. Other Nile basin nations view those agreements as unfair, saying they ignore the needs of their own large and growing populations.

Sudan, meanwhile, has revived a longtime border dispute with Egypt, which has refused to negotiate over the issue or submit the conflict to international arbitration. Egypt in turn accuses Sudan of conspiring with Qatar and Turkey against it. Sudan last week recalled its ambassador in Cairo for consultations.