The U.S. Department of State announced the cancellation of the decision to suspend economic and military aids to Ethiopia, issued by former President Donald Trump, due to the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
The Ethiopian government had decided to build that dam on the Blue Nile that supplies the Nile River with a bigger quantity of water.
The ministry stated, on Friday, that this does not mean that all security and development aid worth about $272 million will start flowing immediately, but rather depends on recent developments, in a clear reference to the deadly conflict in the Tigray region, according to the “Associated Press.”
The ministry said it had informed the Ethiopian government of this, but a spokeswoman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed did not respond to a request for comment from the agency.
The GERD file gets complicated day after day, without the prospect of a near solution that would satisfy the parties to the conflict.
Amidst the differences, the United States of America (USA) had announced the suspension of part of its financial aid to Ethiopia in response to Addis Ababa’s decision to start filling the dam before reaching an agreement with Egypt and Sudan on the huge project it is building on the Blue Nile.
But Ethiopian ambassador to Washington Fitzum Ariga said in a tweet on his Twitter account that he had received assurances that any reduction in American aid to his country would be “temporary.”
Ethiopia had previously expressed reservations about the interference of other parties in the conflict, especially after an attempt at mediation by the United States, which ended in failure in February. Addis Ababa at the time accused Washington of bias
The US State Department announced, this evening, Friday, that the United States is reviewing its policy regarding the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to facilitate a solution to the ongoing crisis due to this project between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan.
