President Donald Trump has, once again, said the United States had provided financial support for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a claim the Ethiopian government had previously rejected.
The president made the remark during a discussion with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in New Jersey on July 14.
President Trump also stated that the Nile River is “life for Egypt” and that his country would resolve the issue with Ethiopia.
During Trump’s discussion about GERD, in addition to the NATO Secretary General, his Deputy JD Vance, Secretary of State Mark Rubio, and other US and European officials were present.
The US president had written on his Truth Social account three weeks ago that his country had provided financial support for the dam.
But the Public Coordination Office for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Addis Ababa dismissed Trump’s statement as baseless.
Aregawi Berhe, the chief executive of the office, emphasised, “the GERD has been under construction since 2010 and it has been financed by the people and government of Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in an explanation he provided to the House of People’s Representatives two weeks ago, stated that work on the dam has been completed and would be inaugurated next September.
In the same explanation, PM Abiy officially invited Egypt and Sudan to attend the inaugural ceremony.
Egypt has been consistently criticising the building of the dam, saying it will compromise its share of water from the world’s longest river.
Its officials and those of Sudan are still pressuring Ethiopia to enter into a binding agreement.
MG/as/APA