A strong statement was issued by the Foreign Ministry of Egypt on the Renaissance Dam, and I consider it a historical one.
In my opinion, this statement is historical because it frankly tells the international community what is happening as there are severe violations against Egypt and Ethiopia's intransigence.
This statement places a great responsibility on the world to confront Ethiopia’s intransigence. The statement condemned the Ethiopian fallacies, and emphasized that the negotiations that took place during the four ministerial meetings of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan reached a dead end; the reason is the intransigence of the Ethiopian side and its attempt to impose a fait accompli policy.
Ethiopia wants to control the Blue Nile to make Egypt “the downstream state” thirsty, violating all international norms, treaties and agreements, the Declaration of Principles Agreement concluded on March 23, 2015, as well as the 1902 agreement signed by Ethiopia, in addition to the 1993 agreement in which Ethiopia pledged not to harm Egypt's water interests.
The technical positions of Addis Ababa, and its proposals that were presented during the ministerial meetings reflect Ethiopia's intention to fill the Renaissance Dam unconditionally without applying any rules that represent real guarantees for downstream countries and protect them from the potential damage of the filling process.
Egypt did not specify a number of years to fill the Renaissance Dam, but that the three countries agreed to fill the dam in stages depending on the water flow of the Blue Nile.
The Egyptian proposal states that the filling of the Renaissance Dam should be undertaken in 6 or 7 years if the river’s inflow is at average or above average during the period of filling the dam.
This statement places a great responsibility on the world, as the human right to water is an eternal and legitimate.
President El-Sisi said that Egypt is committed to protecting its rights in the Nile River waters. The President exerted every effort to resolve the crisis, he discussed it before the United Nations and was able to clarify all its aspects, while Egypt gained great support from all countries.
It is not acceptable for Ethiopia to control the amount of water that reaches us. Ethiopia can achieve development, but not at the expense of the Egyptian people right to the waters of the Nile. Egypt has exerted all its efforts to reach a solution but it seems that the Ethiopian side is intransigent.
It also seems that there are other forces who seek to harm Egypt and exerting all efforts to obstruct any solution. But the international agreements protect Egypt's right to the waters of the Nile River, moreover, some African and European countries support Egypt's position on the Renaissance Dam crisis.
“We are not against [Ethiopian] development or the construction of dams, but this must not come at Egypt's expense,” El-Sisi said, adding that the dam “will not be operated by imposing a fait accompli because we have no other source of water than the Nile, while approximately 95% of the Egyptian land is desert.”
“Egypt's standing is at the level of water poverty, which will increase as a result of the high population in Egypt, so any harm to our water share will have a devastating effect on the Egyptians ..”
On January 13, 14, a new round of meetings will begin in Washington between the American Treasury Secretary and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Water of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
I hope they could reach positive outcomes and put an end to Ethiopia’s intransigent stance which violates all international treaties to harm the Egyptian right to water, but Egypt will protect the right of its people.
All Egyptians support their leadership and ready to sacrifice their life for their homeland.
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