Egypt and Sudan have said Ethiopia’s controversial mega dam on the Nile poses a continued “threat to stability,” in a statement released one week before the scheduled official inauguration of the dam.
“The two sides agreed that the Ethiopian dam is in violation of international law, has serious repercussions for the two downstream countries and represents a continuing threat to the stability of the situation in the eastern Nile Basin in accordance with international law,” the two countries said.
In a joint statement released after a meeting of the Egyptian and Sudanese foreign and irrigation ministers in Cairo on Wednesday, they said that the dangers are due to “Ethiopia’s unilateral moves to fill and operate the dam, concerns over the dam’s safety, and the risks of of uncontrolled water releases and managing drought times.”
Ethiopia must change its policy to restore cooperation between the three countries, they added.
Sudanese and Egyptian water security is linked, the statement added, and the two nations “reaffirmed their complete rejection of any unilateral actions in the eastern Nile Basin that would harm their water interests.”
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been a source of controversy and tensions between Ethiopia and the other riverside states Sudan and Egypt, even before Ethiopia began construction in 2011.
Ethiopia considers the dam as essential to its development and says it will produce enough electricity to provide power to millions of citizens. It has filled the dam over five stages between 2020 and 2024 and plans to inaugurate it on September 9.
Meanwhile, Egypt sees the dam as an existential threat and fears it would restrict its share of Nile water.
Egypt and Sudan are seeking a legally binding deal that would guarantee appropriate flows of water and a legal mechanism for resolving disputes before the dam starts operating.
Several attempts to reach an agreement on the dam’s operation have failed.
DPA
