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Ethiopia: ‘Internationalisation of Renaissance Dam file will not force us to accept colonial agreement’

April 17, 2021 at 10:49 am

Workers at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia on 26 December 2019 [EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP/Getty Images]

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen expressed his country’s categorical rejection of any attempts to force Addis Ababa to accept a “colonial agreement” with Egypt and Sudan regarding the Renaissance Dam.

In a statement issued by the minister on Thursday during a virtual event, he stressed that the approaches on the Nile file: “Should be solved by prioritising the spirit of cooperation, mutual understanding and inter-correlation, and not by politicising the matter and sabotage.” Mekonnen noted that negotiations on the Renaissance Dam provide this opportunity: “If Egypt and Sudan take a constructive approach to achieve a win-win outcome within the framework of the ongoing process led by the African Union.”

Mekonnen added: “Exerting unnecessary pressures on Ethiopia by deliberately politicising and internationalising this file will not force us to accept an agreement dating back to the colonial era.” He continued that Addis Ababa: “Will not agree to unfair conditions that aim to maintain the hegemony of Egypt and Sudan over the Nile’s water.”

READ: Ethiopia: Talks on Nile dam must focus on filling