Egypt Denounces Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam at UN

Egypt, represented by International Minister Badr Abdelatty, has formally condemned on Tuesday 9 September Ethiopia’s inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in a letter to the United Nations (UN) Safety Council.

Egypt asserted that the undertaking stays a unilateral endeavor that violates worldwide regulation and doesn’t alter the authorized framework governing the Jap Nile Basin.

Within the letter, Abdelatty emphasised that Ethiopia’s current actions add to a sequence of violations, together with a UN Safety Council Presidential Assertion from September 2021.

He reaffirmed Egypt’s steadfast place in opposition to any unilateral Ethiopian measures that compromise the existential pursuits of downstream nations, significantly Egypt and Sudan.

Cairo’s communication to the UN pressured that any perception that Egypt would ignore its very important pursuits within the Nile is a false impression.

The letter reiterated Egypt’s dedication to worldwide regulation and its refusal to simply accept Ethiopian makes an attempt to regulate water useful resource administration unilaterally.

Egypt has maintained engagement with worldwide organizations, together with the UN, imposing a restraint strategy.

This strategy, in accordance with the overseas ministry, stems from a want to foster cooperation and mutual advantages amongst Nile Basin nations slightly than an lack of ability to defend nationwide pursuits.

Abdelatty criticized Ethiopia’s strategy, describing it as intransigent and politically motivated, geared toward delaying negotiations whereas imposing a fait accompli.

He accused Ethiopia of misrepresenting the state of affairs and rallying inside assist by portraying Egypt as an adversary over shared assets.

The GERD, which holds a reservoir capability of 74 billion cubic meters, has been crammed in levels since 2020, elevating issues in Cairo and Khartoum about potential reductions in downstream water flows, particularly throughout drought intervals.

Egypt, closely reliant on the Nile, fears that the dam may exacerbate its water shortage, provided that its annual allocation of 55.5 billion cubic meters is already inadequate for its inhabitants of over 108 million.

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has beforehand asserted that Egypt is not going to permit its water rights to be compromised, highlighting the vital nature of the Nile for the nation’s survival.

Negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the GERD started in early 2012, when the three nations, involved by the dam’s environmental and geopolitical implications, appointed a global panel of consultants to evaluate its impacts.

In March 2015, they formalized their collaboration with the signing of the Declaration of Ideas (DoP) in Khartoum.

Since then, GERD has remained a central and protracted concern, with repeated rounds of talks,generally facilitated by third events just like the U.S. Treasury. Nonetheless, no legally binding settlement has been reached at the same time as building continued and energy technology started.