Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs ministry has rejected a “resolution” by the Executive Council of the Arab League on a controversial dam being built on the River Nile, APA learnt on Friday.
The Arab League Council on Thursday said it rejects any infringement of what it called Egypt’s historical rights to the waters of the River Nile.
“Ethiopia rejects the “Resolution” in its entirety,” said the ministry in a statement on Friday accusing the organisation of giving blind support to a member state without taking into consideration key facts on the ground.
“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.
Sudan expressed “reservations” over the Arab League Council’s resolution which was proposed by Egypt over a massive dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile.
Tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the dam mounted over the past few days after Ethiopia refused signing a deal that was reportedly crafted by the US and the World Bank.
Ethiopia accused the United States of being “undiplomatic” in its efforts to resolve the dispute and expressed “disappointment” with remarks from Washington.
Sudan rather requested that its name be excluded from the resolution and argued that it does not serve its interests and expressed fears that “an Arab-Ethiopian confrontation might result from it.”
Ethiopia expressed its profound appreciation to Sudan’s principled position that helps advance win-win solutions for all the parties involved, through a commitment to open dialogue.
The statement further said “Ethiopia’s relations with the peoples’ and governments of member states of the Arab League are longstanding based on common values, deep rooted cultural ties and traditions.”
The Arab League had urged the Arab nations to take the necessary procedures to convince Ethiopia to sign up to the initial agreement while Sudan said the pan-Arab bloc should not be involved in the dispute.
MG/as/APA