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Ethiopia Condemns Egyptian Proposal for Nile Water Usage

Salem Solomon

   Ethiopia is condemning an Egyptian proposal for water allocation amid
   tense negotiations over the countries' use of Nile River waters.

   In an [1]Oct. 5 statement, the Ethiopian government called Egypt's
   conditions for filling the massive reservoir of the Grand Ethiopian
   Renaissance Dam "unjustified" and disruptive to "the positive spirit of
   cooperation."

   The countries disagree about how to divert water from the Nile.
   Ethiopia's proposal calls for the reservoir to be filled over four to
   seven years, a slower pace than the two-to-three-year time span the
   country says it could pursue.

   But on Aug. 1, Egypt submitted a counterproposal that would require
   Ethiopia to receive approval at various points, a step Egypt said is
   necessary to avoid droughts.

   Ethiopia rejected the conditions, saying they reflect colonial-era laws
   that don't account for the rights of upriver countries.

   "Meeting this demand is tantamount for Ethiopia to agreeing to make the
   filling of the GERD (Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam) subject to
   Egypt's approval at any stage," Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said in a
   diplomatic note published by Reuters.

References

   1. https://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/statement-from-the-government-of-ethiopia-following-khartoum-round-of-trilateral-talks-on-the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam/

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