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ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) – The Ethiopian government and the public are in an uproar on Saturday after US President Donald Trump’s strong comment on the Great Dam of the Ethiopian Renaissance (GERD).
On Friday, the President of the United States made a strong comment about the Ethiopia Great Dam, a 6,500 MW hydroelectric dam under construction on the Blue Nile River, which is a major tributary of the world’s longest Nile River that flows into the two lower riparian countries of Sudan. and Egypt.
The dam, which started in April 2011, will be considered the largest dam in Africa upon completion with a total volume of 74 billion cubic meters. The dam has been a major problem among the three Nile-bound countries.
On Friday, Trump expressed his anger at Ethiopia for the construction of a huge dam on the Nile River and appeared to suggest that Egypt could destroy it.
Trump made the remarks when announcing a grand normalization agreement between US ally Israel and Sudan, saying “it is a very dangerous situation because Egypt will not be able to live that way.”
The US president also noted that Egypt “will end up blowing up the dam.”
Trump’s comments were met with much anger and frustration among Ethiopians from all walks of life.
Ethiopia’s Office of the Prime Minister, in a statement released Saturday, stressed that “occasional statements of belligerent threats that Ethiopia succumb to unfair terms still abound.”
“These threats and insults to Ethiopian sovereignty are misguided, unproductive and clear violations of international law,” the prime minister’s office said, emphasizing the unity of Ethiopians on matters of national security.
“As a developing nation, Ethiopia may face poverty but it is rich in history, patriotic citizens whose commitment to uphold the sovereignty of their country is unmatched; and a well-articulated prosperity plan and ambition,” the statement read.
He also stressed that the East African country “will not give in to aggression of any kind, nor will we give recognition to a right that is based entirely on colonial treaties.”
Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn also voiced a strong message against the US president’s comments, stating that Trump “has no idea” about it.
“Reckless conversation of the President of the United States with the Sudanese Prime Minister. Sorry to say, but the man has no idea what he is talking about. Ethiopia and Ethiopians will never be threatened by such an irresponsible statement. History will teach everyone. , “Desalegn wrote via Twitter.
In July, Ethiopia announced the long-awaited first year of filling the dam that was being built on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia’s Benishangul regional state, near the Ethiopian-Sudan border.
The Blue Nile or Abay River, which rises from Lake Tana on the outskirts of Bahir Dar, is one of the two main headwaters of the longest Nile River in the world. The Blue Nile flows some 1,600 km south and then northwest into neighboring Ethiopia Sudan before meeting the White Nile in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The Blue Nile, which contributes more than 85 percent of the Nile’s waters, flows further north into Egypt after meeting the White Nile and eventually ends in the Mediterranean Sea after crossing the North African country.
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 that the dam project “would ensure fair and reasonable use” of the river’s waters between the three countries concerned.
Egypt and Sudan have also called on Ethiopia not to start filling the dam without reaching an agreement.
Amid ongoing, albeit less fruitful, trilateral discussions between representatives of the three countries about filling the dam, the three countries have been involved in recent weeks through discussions led by the African Union (AU) to reach a an agreement. Final product
