Verbal disputes between Egypt and Ethiopia have mounted after Ethiopia withdrew US facilitated talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which Ethiopia is building on Nile.
Late last week, Ethiopia rejected the Arab League Council’s statement which said “the Arab League rejects any infringement of Egypt’s historical rights to the waters of the River Nile”
Ethiopia said Arab League Council was extending ‘blind support’ to a member state without taking into consideration key facts on the ground.
It said “Ethiopia would safeguard its full right of utilizing the Nile water in a fair and equitable ways along with other Nile basin countries and without causing significant harm on downstream countries, “the ministry said.
The Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry described the Ethiopian foreign ministry’s comments as “inappropriate, lacked diplomacy, and made an unacceptable insult to the Arab League and its members.”
“Ethiopia’s posture and position during these negotiations was to exercise hydro-hegemony and to anoint itself as the unchallenged and sole beneficiary over the Nile,” the Egyptian ministry said, adding that Addis Ababa was “insisting on filling the GERD unilaterally in July 2020 without reaching an agreement with downstream states [Egypt and Sudan], and while holding negotiations on the GERD hostage to domestic political considerations.”
The statement pointed out that the Arab League resolution was reflecting “dismay and discontent at Ethiopia’s track record throughout the endless rounds of negotiations on the GERD, particularly since the conclusion of the 2015 Agreement on the Declaration of Principles (DoP).”
The ministry noted that Addis Abba’s stance was constituting a “material breach of the DoP and demonstrated, beyond any doubt, Ethiopia’s bad faith and its lack of political will to reach a fair and balanced agreement on the GERD.”
Calling on the international community “to join the Arab League in taking cognizance of Ethiopia’s continuing defiance and unilateralism, which threatens to undermine regional stability and security,” the ministry stressed that Cairo was still having a “fair and balanced solution that achieves the interest of the disputed parties, and provides a historic opportunity to write a new chapter of cooperation between the three countries.”
MG/abj/APA