US chided for undiplomatic role in Nile River dam talks
ADDIS ABABA: The United States has been “undiplomatic” in its role facilitating talks between three countries on the Nile River over a giant dam, Ethiopia said on Tuesday, but promised to continue negotiations.
The US has been enabling talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa.
The US$4 billion (125 billion baht) project has set Addis Ababa and Egypt at loggerheads since Ethiopia broke ground in 2011 — Cairo worried that filling a huge reservoir too quickly could staunch the Nile’s flow lower down.
The US Treasury Department stepped in last year after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi put in a request to his ally US President Donald Trump.
Last week, the Treasury Department said an agreement had been reached and urged Ethiopia to sign “at the earliest possible time” and Egypt said it had signed the “fair and balanced” deal.
But Ethiopia, which skipped the most recent round of talks, denied any deal had been agreed.
“The recent statement by the US we believe is undiplomatic and does not reflect a great nation like this,” Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew told a press conference on Tuesday.
“We want Americans to play a constructive role,” he said.
“Any other role is unacceptable,” he added, warning Washington not to rush the process or try to influence the outcome.
Mr Sisi’s office said later the Egyptian president had been reassured by Mr Trump that the US would stick with the talks until a deal was signed, though it was unclear if the reassurance came after Ethiopia’s criticism.
Ethiopia sees the dam as essential for its electrification and development, but Egypt — which depends on the Nile for 90% of its irrigation and drinking water — sees it as an existential threat.
The biggest worry for Egypt is the filling of the dam’s enormous reservoir, which can hold 74 billion cubic metres of water.
The US Treasury Department said on Friday that “final testing and filling should not take place without an agreement” — a position which has been endorsed by Sudan.
The statement implied that if Ethiopia starts filling the dam before a deal is reached “it would breach an international legal principle not to cause significant harm to downstream nations”, said William Davison, Ethiopia analyst for International Crisis Group, a conflictprevention organisation.