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10:51 p. M.
Friday 23 October 2020
Cairo (Masrawy)
US President Donald Trump confirmed that Ethiopia has violated an agreement it had been preparing regarding the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, and said that since then, it has cut millions of dollars in helps Addis Ababa because of its delay in the dam negotiations that have been in place for almost a decade with Egypt. And Sudan.
In a phone call with the leaders of Sudan and Israel to celebrate a diplomatic breakthrough between the two countries, Trump said “Egypt cannot be blamed for feeling a bit uncomfortable” about the dam that “stops the flow of water into the Nile. “.
Washington had prepared a draft agreement last February after months of negotiations, but Ethiopia was not present at the signing session.
The US president said it is “a very dangerous situation, because Egypt will not be able to live this way”, indicating that the Nile River is almost the only source of water for more than 100 million Egyptians.
“They will end up blowing up that dam … They will blow up the dam. We have to do something,” Trump added.
He continued: “And no one can blame Egypt for being upset.”
Egypt is trying to resolve the Renaissance dam crisis through diplomatic means and brought the matter to the Security Council earlier this year, before the African Union takes over the negotiations between the three countries that have not resulted in nothing so far.
Ethiopia wants to build the dam to expand its energy exports, while Egypt relies almost exclusively on the waters of the Nile River for agriculture, industry and local use.
Egypt and Sudan are trying to reach a legally binding agreement that guarantees adequate water flows and a legal mechanism to resolve disputes before the dam begins operating. Ethiopia is stagnant and says it wants non-binding guidance rules.
However, in August Ethiopia celebrated the first phase of filling the dam, amid severe disapproval and disapproval from Cairo and Khartoum.
