Ethiopia water minister says country does not need Egypt’s approval to build new dams

Ethiopia’s Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Itefa said his country has the right to build dams without obtaining prior approval from Egypt, amid continuing disagreements between the two countries over the use of Nile waters.

In statements reported on Sunday by the official Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), Itefa said Ethiopia was working to complete a major dam on the Magetch River for irrigation and water supply purposes, citing the country’s sovereignty, national water policy and its interpretation of international law.

The minister said Ethiopia would continue developing its water infrastructure according to national priorities following the completion and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Itefa rejected Egypt’s position that Ethiopian water projects require prior approval, arguing that such a requirement was inconsistent with what he described as modern principles governing the management of Nile waters.

He said Ethiopia did not require Egyptian consent to construct dams that do not cause “significant harm” and maintained that, as an upstream country, Ethiopia has the right to use and develop its water resources.

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His remarks came less than 24 hours after he published and subsequently deleted a social media post concerning the construction of Egypt’s Aswan High Dam.

In the deleted post, Itefa reportedly argued that the High Dam had been built without Ethiopia’s consent and linked the issue to Ethiopia’s position on its own right to develop water resources. The remarks prompted criticism in Egypt.

An official source at the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation criticized the Ethiopian minister’s comments, describing them as reflecting a “lack of political balance” and questioning why the post had subsequently been removed.

Itefa also argued that the Nile could not be regarded as the exclusive property of downstream countries and rejected claims that Ethiopian projects were depleting the river’s waters.

Egypt, meanwhile, has repeatedly rejected what it describes as unilateral Ethiopian measures concerning the Nile and maintains that the experience surrounding the construction of GERD without a binding agreement with downstream countries should not be repeated.

Cairo says new water projects in Nile Basin countries must not infringe on Egypt’s water rights or threaten its water security and argues that the management of shared water resources requires coordination and prior agreement among the countries concerned.

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