Ethiopia will not ‘cave in’ after US slams Nile dam
>> ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia vowed yesterday not to “cave in to aggressions of any kind” after US President Donald Trump lashed out over the country’s Nile River mega-dam and suggested Egypt might destroy it.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office defended the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to become Africa’s largest hydropower plant, and said Ethiopia was working to resolve longstanding issues over the project with downstream neighbours Sudan and Egypt.
“Nonetheless, occasional statements of belligerent threats to have Ethiopia succumb to unfair terms still abound. These t h re at s and affronts to Ethiopian sovereignty are misguided, unproductive, and clear violations of international law,” his office said in a statement.
“Ethiopia will not cave in to aggressions of any kind.”
The office did not explicitly mention Mr Trump, but its statement came the morning after the US president weighed in on the dam dispute in support of Egypt.
“It’s a very dangerous situation because Egypt is not going to be able to live that way,” Mr Trump told reporters on Friday. “They’ll end up blowing up the dam. And I said it and I say it loud and clear — they’ll blow up that dam. And they have to do something.”
Washington’s attempt to broker a deal to resolve the dam issue ended in failure earlier this year after Ethiopia accused the US of favouring Egypt.
Negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan are now being overseen by the African Union.