Egypt and Sudan cannot let Ethiopia control Blue Nile waters, says El Sisi
Egypt’s president said his country was united with Sudan in rejecting what he described as Ethiopia’s attempts to control the Blue Nile.
He said both countries would suffer if the Horn of Africa nation went ahead with a second filling of a dam it is building on the river before agreement is reached on its operation.
After a lightning visit to Khartoum, Abdel Fattah El Sisi said that he and Sudanese leaders wanted negotiations with Ethiopia over the dam to restart before the Nile’s annual flood in the summer.
That is when Addis Ababa intends to carry out the second filling with about 13 billion cubic metres of water from the Nile’s main tributary.
Mr El Sisi also repeated Egypt’s support for Sudan in its border dispute with Ethiopia, saying the country had a legitimate right to defend its territory under internationally recognised agreements.
The visit to Sudan was his first since dictator Omar Al Bashir was ousted in 2019.
Tight security measures were in place in Khartoum on Saturday, with several main boulevards closed to traffic during his brief stay.
His talks with Sudan’s de facto head of state Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan took place in the presidential palace on the banks of the Blue Nile.
“This visit is a genuine show of support to Sudan and its revolution,” Gen Al Burhan said in a reference to the months of street protests against Al Bashir’s 29-year rule that paved the way for his removal in April, 2019, and the creation five months later of a transitional military-civilian government.
A series of deadly border clashes between Ethiopian and Sudanese forces have taken place since Sudan’s military moved late last year to wrest back control of farmlands long settled by members of Ethiopia’s Amhara ethnic group.
The two countries have each claimed border breaches by the other as troops have massed in the region, heightening tensions and raising the prospect of a border war. Sudan and Egypt have increased their military co-operation in recent months, conducting joint war games and exchanging high-level visits by military leaders.
The two neighbours signed a military co-operation agreement on March 4, with Cairo saying it was prepared to come to Sudan’s aid if needed.
Ethiopia says it will not negotiate over its border dispute with Sudan before Sudanese troops are pulled from the areas they have retaken, a condition Khartoum has rejected.
Sudan says that the border was demarcated in a 1902 agreement between the two nations that was reaffirmed in 1972.
“Our views are identical in that we reject any approach aimed at imposing a de facto situation and taking control of the Blue Nile through unilateral actions that pay no heed to the interests and rights of the two downstream nations [Egypt and Sudan],” Mr El Sisi said of Ethiopia’s declared intention to press ahead with the filling of the dam.
The Blue Nile’s source is on the Ethiopian Highlands, from where it thunders down to eastern Sudan before it meets the White Nile in Khartoum.
Together, the two rivers form the Nile, which travels north through Sudan and Egypt to the Mediterranean. The Blue Nile accounts for more than 80 per cent of the Nile’s water.
“We have emphasised the need to return to serious and effective negotiations as soon as possible and before the start of the flood season to reach a just, balanced and legally binding agreement on operating and filling the dam,” Mr El Sisi said.
Negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the dam have broken down after years of fruitless attempts at striking a deal.
Egypt and Sudan want Ethiopia to agree to a system for dealing with future droughts and resolve disputes.
Addis Ababa has baulked at that request, saying it prefers to agree to non-binding guidelines for operating the dam, Africa’s largest, that will generate 6,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity.
Sudan wants Ethiopia to share data on the operation of the dam, built less than 20 kilometres from its border, to avoid possible flooding and possible disruption to its own much smaller power-generating dams.
Egypt fears that the dam would deeply cut its share of the Nile waters, wiping out hundreds of thousands of jobs and disrupting its delicate food balance.
Egypt and Sudan have demanded that the African Union, EU, the US and UN should join the negotiations on the dam. Mr El Sisi repeated that request on Saturday.
Ethiopia has yet to comment on bringing in the four bodies to join the negotiations.
The Blue Nile rises in the Ethiopian Highlands and accounts for more than 80 per cent of the water in the Nile