Egypt addressed the UN Security Council in a letter following recent statements from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, Badr Abdel-Ati, stressed Egypt’s categorical rejection of Ethiopia’s unilateral policies that violate the rules and principles of international law, and constitute a clear violation of the Declaration of Principles Agreement signed between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in 2015, and the Security Council Presidential Statement issued on September 15, 2021.
Abdel-Ati said in his letter to the President of the Security Council that the statements of Ethiopian Prime Minister regarding the seizure of a quantity of Blue Nile water this year and the completion of the construction of the concrete structure of the GERD are completely unacceptable to Egypt.
These statements represent a continuation of the Ethiopian approach that is causing trouble with its neighbors, he noted, and that is threatening the stability of the region, most of whose countries seek to enhance cooperation and integration among themselves instead of sowing discord.
The Egyptian letter explained that the end of the negotiation tracks on the GERD after 13 years of negotiations came once it was clear to everyone that Addis Ababa only wants to continue the existence of a negotiating cover for an indefinite period in order to establish a fait accompli.
Abdel-Ati added that Ethiopia does not have the political desire to reach a solution, while seeking to legitimize its unilateral policies that contradict international law, and hide behind baseless allegations that these policies are based on the right to development.
The Foreign Minister stressed that these illegal Ethiopian policies will have serious negative repercussions on the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
He said that despite the high level of the Nile flood in recent years, as well as the great efforts made by the Egyptian state, which contributed to dealing with the negative effects of the unilateral actions of GERD in the past years, Egypt remains closely monitoring the developments and is ready to take all measures and steps guaranteed by the United Nations Charter to defend its interests.
