Trump: Egypt May Blow up GERD at Some Point

US President Donald Trump said that Egypt may blow up the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), indicating that Addis Ababa had violated the agreement.

Trump's statements to reporters came after a phone call between him and Abdullah Hamdok, the Sudanese Prime Minister, to discuss the GERD and various other issues.

Trump said: "I called on Sudan to reach an agreement regarding the dispute over the GERD with Ethiopia and Egypt."

Trump added, "We hope to find an amicable solution soon, and Egypt has also told the same thing."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zppQomT884

The US president said, "The situation is really dangerous, and Cairo may blow up that dam."

The US President also said: "I brokered an agreement to solve the problem, but Ethiopia violated the agreement, which forced us to cut off funding from it."

The US president explained, "I made a deal for them, but unfortunately Ethiopia broke the deal, and they should not have done so."

He added that "It was a big mistake, they (Ethiopia) will never see the money unless they adhere to the agreement.''

He also said that "You can not blame Egypt for being a little upset."

Moreover, he urged Hamdok to persuade Ethiopia to agree to the arrangement to resolve the water dispute, and he stated, "I said to Egypt the same thing."

On July 21, the Ethiopian government announced the beginning of the first filling of the Renaissance Dam, and they said that it came against the background of heavy rainfall in the Ethiopian plateau, which helped in the process of filling the dam unintentionally, yet the completion of the first filling of the Renaissance Dam without reaching an agreement with Egypt and Sudan angered the two countries.

Despite the signing of a declaration of principles between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in regards to the issue of the Renaissance Dam in March 2015, which adopted dialogue and negotiation as a way to reach an agreement between the three countries on the issue of the Nile waters and the Renaissance Dam, yet the negotiations did not result in an agreement since then.

Ethiopia began constructing the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile since 2011, with the aim of generating electricity, and Egypt fears the impact of the dam on its share of water, which exceeds 55 billion cubic meters annualy.