Ethiopia blasts Trump remark that Egypt will ‘blow up’ dam
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Ethiopia on Saturday denounced “belligerent threats” over the huge dam it has nearly completed on the Blue Nile River, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said downstream Egypt will “blow up” the project it has called an existential threat.
Ethiopia’s foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador to seek clarification, saying “the incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt from a sitting U.S. president neither reflects the longstanding partnership and strategic alliance between Ethiopia and the United States nor is acceptable in international law governing interstate relations,” a statement said.
Without naming Trump or the U.S., Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office issued a separate critical statement amid an outcry in Ethiopia over Trump’s latest threat over the dam. The $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a source of national pride, aimed at pulling millions of people from poverty.
Protesters in Belarus keep up push for president’s resignation
KYIV, Ukraine – Several hundred women marched across the capital of Belarus in heavy rain Saturday to demand the resignation of the country’s authoritarian president, continuing more than 21⁄ months of protests
2 against his challenged reelection to a sixth term.
The women who marched Saturday in Minsk carried umbrellas in the white and red colors of the opposition flag. They also held placards stating their professions to underline widespread opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko’s 26-year rule among people of various occupations.