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Ethiopia calls US President Donald Trump’s statement on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam erroneous, unproductive and a violation of international law.
In a telephone conversation with leaders of Sudan and Israel, the US president announced that an agreement has been reached between Israel and Sudan, adding that Egypt could potentially blow up the dam if it could not live with the project. Sudan, like Egypt, is downstream from the dam being built on the Nile River. Trump has been a strong supporter of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his position against filling the dam anytime soon. . Egypt says doing so without a signed agreement is a violation of international law and would dangerously affect its own downstream water supply.
“It is a very dangerous situation because Egypt will not be able to live that way,” Trump said on the call.
“They will end up blowing up the dam. And I said it and I say it loud and clear: they will blow up that dam. And they have to do something. “
“They should have stopped it long before it started,” Trump said of the $ 4.5 billion project. The US president, who directed his remarks primarily to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said he had made similar comments to Egypt’s leaders in trying to bring them back to the negotiating table with Ethiopia over the dam.
REUTERS / State Verification
Representatives of international organizations and US politicians have expressed their disappointment at the president’s statement, accused of trying to stoke tension between the three countries.
“An agreement on filling the GERD is within the reach of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. Now is the time to act and not to increase tensions, said Josep Borrell, current high representative of the European Union.
“Your [Trump] The comments are divisive and undemocratic in the course of an ongoing diplomatic conversation between the parties involved, ”said Alexander Assefa, an Ethiopian-born member of the Nevada state assembly in an open letter sent to the White House.
Ethiopia began construction of its giant dam on the Nile in 2011 when Egypt was in the Arab Spring revolution that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak. The dam was initially planned to be completed in 2017, but has been delayed due to mismanagement of construction and corruption, leading to the arrest of government officials.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been taking corrective action with the goal of completing the dam in two years.
His administration gave the green light to the participation of a third party in the negotiations with Egypt and Sudan over the operation and filling of the dam, a position his predecessor had opposed. Taking this as an opportunity to promote its interest, Egypt invited the World Bank and the United States to mediate with the backing of the three nations.
Earlier this year, Ethiopia walked away from the talks, accusing Trump of being a front-runner with Egypt.
The African Union, chaired by South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa, stepped in and has been trying to end the stalemate between the three countries with little luck to date. Ethiopia meanwhile unilaterally started filling the dam, saying it doesn’t have a significant impact on Egypt’s water volume. receives.
Disappointed by Ethiopia’s unilateral action, the US State Department suspended development aid worth up to $ 264 million. “They will never see that money unless they adhere to that agreement,” Trump said Friday.
“Ethiopia will not give in to aggression of any kind, nor do we recognize a right that is based entirely on colonial treaties,” read a statement from the Ethiopian prime minister’s office published on Saturday. He highlighted that a great milestone was achieved in August when the first water filling phase was successfully completed.
Despite the dispute over the dam, Ethiopia still plans to embark on the second phase of the water filling, which for the most part is funded by taxpayers as a public duty to respond to the nation’s dire need for lack of electricity and access to water. to much of the population of over 100 million.
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