Egypt accuses Ethiopia of trying to “buy time” with negotiations to fill its dam on the Blue Nile

13 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Government of Egypt has accused Ethiopia of “buying time” through negotiations around the Grand Renaissance Dam, located on the Blue Nile River, while filling work continues without a final agreement on the situation in the hydroelectric facility.

The Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs, Hamdi Loza, has described as “unfortunate” that the Ethiopian authorities “continue to insist on resuming negotiations under the auspices of the African Union (AU) in an attempt to buy time to continue filling (the prey) without agreement”.

Loza has emphasized that “the continuation of the negotiations for ten years without any results is a sign of the intransigence of the Ethiopian authorities”, which he has also accused of maintaining a “unilateral” position.

Likewise, it has rejected the accusations of Addis Ababa against Cairo for “politicizing” the work and has reiterated that Egypt has “concerns about the impact of the project on its water security,” according to a statement published by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry through your account on the social network Facebook.

“Egypt’s water security is real and is based on scientific studies,” he said, before stressing that “Ethiopia’s continued assertion that Egypt has politicized the issue is an attempt to evade its legal responsibility and ignore the international principles and good neighborliness”.

Loza’s words come about a month after Ethiopia criticized “irresponsible” statements by Egyptian Foreign Minister Samé Shukri, who stated that “all options are open” when it comes to addressing differences in around the dam Days before, Sudan and Ethiopia had ironed out their differences over the dam.

The governments of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan reached an agreement in principle on the main points of dispute surrounding the construction of the dam in January 2020 and promised to sign the final document at the end of February, although Addis Ababa abandoned the talks before signing the agreement, something that only Cairo did.

Ethiopia, which is financing the project alone and hopes to become the continent’s largest generator and exporter of electricity, rejects these accusations. The works are being carried out in the Benishangul-Gumaz region and, when completed, the dam will be the largest on the continent.