On Sunday, the Egyptian Minister of Irrigation, Mohamed Abdel-Ati, warned Ethiopia against unilateral filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without prior coordination with the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
He stressed that Cairo had sought a fair agreement that takes into account the concerns of the three countries on the dam since the signing of the 2015 Declaration of Principles (DoP) with Ethiopia and Sudan.
In his speech during the third edition of Cairo Water Week, Abdel-Ati said that Egypt is facing a major challenge in balancing between its water resources and needs, especially with around 97 percent of its water resources flowing in from outside its borders.
He noted that Egypt cannot rely in filling the gap on underground water, which faces a risk of depletion.
He said that Egypt has shifted to the desalination of sea water amid a rise in challenges and water scarcity, highlighting the adverse effect of climate change on the Nile Delta as the rise in sea levels makes the Delta one of the world’s prime candidates in danger of drowning.
His statements on the country's water challenges come after years of talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the disputed GERD, which would adversely impact Egypt's share of the Nile water, have failed to reach consensus.
Egypt and Sudan have been in talks with Ethiopia for years now to reach a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the massive hydropower dam that Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile.
The latest round of talks mediated by the African Union (AU) came to a close in late August without reaching a consensus on the legal and technical points of contention, after Ethiopia proposed a package of non-binding guidelines for the filling and operation of the mega-dam.
He said that the “unilateral” filling and operation of GERD by Ethiopia represent a significant challenge and pose risks to the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan, during severe droughts and flooding.
The GERD, built 15 kilometres from the Ethiopian border with Sudan, has been a source of contention between the three countries since its construction began in 2010.
The first filling of the controversial dam took place this summer, despite Ethiopia not having reached any binding agreement with its downstream neighbors.
Cairo fears the massive hydropower project will significantly cut its crucial water supplies from the River Nile, while Sudan fears it could endanger the safety of its own dams.
Ethiopia says the 6,000-megawatt dam is key to its development and hopes to become Africa’s biggest electricity exporter.
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