"I am ready to sacrifice my life in order to preserve Egypt's rights in the waters of the Nile," Parliament Deputy Speaker Mohamed Abou El-Enein said on Wednesday.
During his meeting with the Egyptian-European Business Council, Abou El-Enein indicated that he, in his capacity as a member of Parliament, expresses the voice of the Egyptian people, confirming that more than 150 million Egyptians and Sudanese citizens will not allow their water rights to be abandoned.
He also called on the Ethiopian government to understand this position, reaffirming that the Parliament stands behind the Egyptian leadership in this regard.
The MP explained that Egypt is not against development in Ethiopia, and it is ready to participate in rebuilding Ethiopia, calling on the international community to intervene and support the Egyptian-Sudanese rights.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia announced that it will move forward with the second-year filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The Ethiopian announcement comes just hours after the collapse of trilateral talks with Egypt and Sudan to reach an agreement on the re-launching of the negotiations.
The three countries have been involved in a three-day meeting in Congo’s Kinshasa under the auspices of the African Union (AU) but efforts to unlock the decade-long dispute have failed.