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ADDIS ABABA, Oct.25 (Xinhua) – Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew summoned the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Mike Raynor on Saturday night to seek clarification on the controversial comment by the U.S. President. Donald Trump on the mega dam in Ethiopia.
Andargachew summoned the US envoy “to seek clarification on the statements made by the US president about the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) during his telephone conversation with the prime ministers of Sudan and the State of Israel,” according to a statement from the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. read.
The chancellor “stressed that the statement on the GERD and the negotiation process is misleading and erroneous, since the GERD does not stop the flow of the waters of the Nile.”
Trump said on Friday that Egypt “will end up blowing up the dam” that Ethiopia is building along the Blue Nile River.
“Incitement to war between Ethiopia and Egypt by a sitting US president does not reflect the longstanding partnership and strategic alliance between Ethiopia and the United States nor is it acceptable under international law governing interstate relations,” he said.
Andargachew also informed the US ambassador that “Ethiopia will never succumb or succumb in the future to threats to its sovereignty and will commit to continuing trilateral negotiations within the framework of the African Union.”
The 6,500 MW hydroelectric dam is under construction on the Blue Nile River, a major tributary of the world’s longest Nile River that flows to the two lower riparian countries, Sudan and Egypt.
Diplomatic relations between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan have been largely intertwined over the years with the Blue Nile River, which originates in Ethiopia and is shared between the three countries.
Egypt, a country downstream of the Nile Basin, has frequently expressed concern that Ethiopia’s mega-dam could affect its share of the river’s water, while Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has repeatedly promised that the dam would it will not harm Egypt or Sudan, saying the dam project “will ensure fair and reasonable use” of the river’s waters between the three countries concerned.
Amid ongoing, albeit less fruitful, trilateral discussions between representatives of the three countries on filling the dam, the three countries have been involved in recent weeks through discussions led by the African Union to reach an agreement. Final product
