Egypt: We won't cede our water rights

Egypt won’t waive its water rights, the Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry said yesterday, referring to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Speaking at the Arab Parliament, Shoukry explained that the dam issue was adding “new challenge to the Egyptian government,” pointing to what he described as “a worsening situation” after Ethiopia’s recent rejection to a report by an international adviser.

“Egypt’s national security is an integral part of the Arab and the African national security,” he stressed.

The Egyptian official called on the African governments “to stimulate Ethiopia to reach a fair and balanced agreement that achieves the interests of the three involved countries [Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia].”

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Shoukri noted that the United States (US) had invited Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, to hold a meeting on 6 November to resume the discussion on the dam issue.

Egypt is worried that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), under construction near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, will restrict supplies of already scarce Nile waters on which it is almost entirely dependent.

After years of three-way talks with Ethiopia and Sudan, it says it has exhausted efforts to reach a pact on conditions for operating the dam and filling the reservoir behind.

Ethiopia says the dam is crucial to its economic development and has denied that the talks between the three are stalled, accusing Egypt of trying to sidestep the process.