Ethiopia’s First Response to Trump’s “Renaissance Dam” Remarks

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed responded on Saturday to US President Donald Trump’s accusation that Ethiopia had violated an agreement it was preparing to resolve the dispute over the Renaissance dam, after which Washington cut millions of dollars in aid. to Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said: “The Renaissance Dam is an Ethiopian dam, and the Ethiopians will inevitably complete this work, and there is no force that can prevent us from achieving our goals that we have planned, and no one colonized us before, and no one us. will rule in the future. “

And Abiy Ahmed added, in a statement, that “no one can touch Ethiopia and live in peace, and the Ethiopians will prevail.”

He added: “There are friends who made this story with us, and there are friends who betrayed during our making of this story. This is not new in Ethiopia.”

Trump said in a phone call with the leaders of Sudan and Israel, celebrating a diplomatic breakthrough between the two countries, that “Egypt cannot be blamed for feeling a bit uncomfortable.”

He added that “a very dangerous situation, because Egypt will not be able to live this way.”

Hamdok said, after the phone call, after Sudan and Israel announced an agreement to establish peace relations, that he wants to reach an amicable solution regarding the Renaissance dam.

Egypt and Sudan are striving to reach a legally binding agreement that guarantees adequate water flows and a legal mechanism to resolve disputes before the dam is operational. However, in August, Ethiopia celebrated the first phase of filling the dam and insists on completing it without an agreement.

Egypt adheres to its historic rights to the waters of the Nile River and to international decisions and laws in this regard, and rejects any unilateral measures by which Addis Ababa proceeds, and calls on Ethiopia to adhere to the principles of international law.