Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said talks on the Nile Dam in Ethiopia “would drag on” but expressed hope for a negotiated settlement to the dispute.
El-Sisi’s comments, in a speech on Tuesday, came amid intense tensions between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the great dam of the Ethiopian Great Renaissance on the Blue Nile.
For almost a decade, talks about the operation and filling of the mega dam have failed.
“We are negotiating, and these negotiations will be a long battle,” el-Sisi said, before adding, “we will succeed, if God wills.”
Last week, Ethiopia announced that it had reached its first-year target to fill the reservoir, a move that caused anxiety in downstream Egypt and Sudan, which they fear for their vital water supplies.
El-Sisi said Egyptians’ fears about the dam are “legitimate and natural,” but warned the media not to make “threats” of military action.
The long-standing dispute has recently spilled over online, with Egyptians and Ethiopians discussing in online posts about their rights to the waters of the Nile.
Cairo has feared that the Ethiopian dam will severely reduce its share of the Nile, which provides 97 percent of the water needs of more than 100 million Egyptians.
Ethiopia, which started building the dam in 2011 and expects it to produce large amounts of electricity for its slightly larger population, said it is vital to its development.
He has insisted that water supplies from downstream countries will not be affected.
Sudan hoped that the dam would help regulate the floods, but in June warned that millions of lives would be at “great risk” if Ethiopia unilaterally filled the dam.
The Nile, the longest river in the world, is a lifeguard that supplies water and electricity to the 10 countries it crosses.
Earlier this month, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed praised the early “historic” filling of the dam.
“The completion of the first round of filling is a historic moment that shows Ethiopians’ commitment to the rebirth of our country,” said Abiy, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
“The fact that we reached this milestone with our own efforts when no one else believed in our capabilities to accomplish such initiatives makes the moment even more historic.”
“We carried out the filling of the dam without causing harm to anyone,” said Abiy.
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