Ethiopia has accused Egypt of obstructing ongoing negotiation on the mega dam being built on the River Nile.
Briefing journalists on Tuesday about the ongoing talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) Foreign Affairs Minister Gedu Andargachew said Egypt wants the use of the Nile exclusive to it.
Ethiopia is set to start filling the GERD in July but Egypt said the filling should not be started until a common agreement is reached between with the three countries involved in the dam dispute including Sudan.
Egypt is making efforts to take the issue to the UN Security Council while negotiating on the matter with Sudan and Ethiopia, the minister has said.
“Egypt cannot have it both ways, negotiating and at the same time accusing Ethiopia; and most of all obstruct the ongoing negotiation…Egypt as you all know has nothing to give and never receives what is given to her in negotiation”, he claimed, adding that it is trying to take dual routes at the same time.
Ethiopia has been negotiating based on the principles of just and equitable share of the river’s resources, Gedu noted.
He further stated that although the government and people of Ethiopia fully cover the cost of GERD and the country is the major contributor to the Nile River, it is negotiating with those who “persistently engage in defaming us in the international arena.”
He added: “While we invite them for negotiation with an open mind and discuss issues based on principles, Egyptians are thinking in a different way and to disrupt the negotiation,” the minister claimed.
“Now, they are working to defame and weaken Ethiopia,” the Foreign minister indicated.
Ethiopia’s poverty and lack of development cannot ensure Egypt’s sustainable national interest, Gedu observed, adding that their “regimes fail to understand this reality.”
MG/as/APA