The President of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde called on citizens to collect community donations through an SMS fundraising initiative to complete the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
"The dam is more than a development project," she said at the launch of the 3rd round SMS fundraising program to raise fund for GERD.
The SMS program launched on Wednesday at the National Palace allowing Ethiopians to raise fund for the construction of the dam by sending text message to a specific number.
"The dam is our weapon to overcome poverty and hope for future development." The Ethiopian News Agency quoted Zewde on Wednesday.
Relations between Egypt and Ethiopia have been strained recently, due to the absence of the latter from negotiations on the Renaissance Dam, which was held in Washington on February 27- 28, which Cairo considered "intentional" to obstruct the course of the negotiations.
Today, in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, a fundraising initiative was launched to build the dam by sending short messages to mobile phones.
On his part, Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gedu Andargachew said during a conference held earlier on Tuesday that his country has full rights to build the Renaissance Dam, to use its natural resources, and to 'lift its citizens from poverty'.
Andargachew stressed that his country is launching the Renaissance Dam in a way that does not cause any significant harm to the downstream countries, including Egypt and Sudan.
He stated that Ethiopia had entered into talks to build confidence with the downstream countries, and that after a series of talks held on a number of issues over the past years, the three countries had managed to narrow their differences.
He continued, "But there are issues that the two countries have not yet agreed on technically and legally."
The minister pointed out that negotiation is the only way to reach an agreement, refusing Egypt's warning, saying: "It is not beneficial for any one to dismiss relations," as he put it.
Meantime, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had received a phone call from the US President, Donald Trump to discuss views on the latest developments of the Renaissance Dam file.
The US President expressed his appreciation for Egypt's initialization of the agreement that resulted from the rounds of negotiations on the Renaissance Dam in Washington during the past months, as a comprehensive, fair and balanced agreement.
On February 29, Sudan stressed the need to reach a comprehensive agreement that includes the safe operation of the Renaissance Dam, before the start of the first filling process of the Dam.
The Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation indicated at the time that the Ethiopian delegation requested to postpone this round of negotiations to conduct further internal consultation, and therefore the Sudanese delegation continued to engage in this round bilaterally, with the US Treasury team, during Feb. 27-28.
The Foreign Minister affirmed yesterday that Ethiopia wants the United States to play a constructive role in pushing countries to reach an agreement on its own, and stressed that any role beyond this will not benefit everyone.
Moreover, Selishi Bekele, Minister for Water, Energy and Irrigation of Ethiopia said that the construction of the dam is still in progress, and that the filling of the dam will start in July, adding that it is expected to hold 4.9 billion cubic meters of water by the end of the same month.
He noted that the dam will start generating energy in February and March of next year. The dam, which will be the largest hydropower project in Africa, is now more about 71% complete.
Meantime, both the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources and Irrigation expressed, at the beginning of this month, dissatisfaction and rejection of the statement issued by Ethiopia regarding the round of negotiations on the Renaissance Dam that was held in Washington.
Finally, Egypt voiced its astonishment from the Ethiopian statement about the need for more time to address this vital matter after more than five years of full engagement in intensive negotiations that covered all dimensions and details of this issue.
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