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Ethiopia Blasts Trump Remark That Egypt Will 'Blow Up' Dam

Associated Press

   ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - Ethiopia on Saturday denounced "belligerent
   threats" over the huge dam it has nearly completed on the Blue Nile
   River, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said downstream Egypt
   will "blow up" the project it has called an existential threat.

   Ethiopia's foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador to seek
   clarification, saying "the incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt
   from a sitting U.S. president neither reflects the longstanding
   partnership and strategic alliance between Ethiopia and the United
   States nor is acceptable in international law governing interstate
   relations," a statement said.

   Without naming Trump or the U.S., Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office
   issued a separate critical statement amid an outcry in Ethiopia over
   Trump's latest threat over the dam. The $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian
   Renaissance Dam is a source of national pride, aimed at pulling
   millions of people from poverty.

   Trump made the comment while announcing that Sudan would start to
   normalize ties with Israel. Downstream Sudan is a party to the talks
   with Ethiopia and Egypt over the disputed dam. "They (Egypt) will end
   up blowing up the dam," Trump said. "And I said it and I say it loud
   and clear '¦ they'll blow up that dam. And they have to do something."

   The U.S. president earlier this year told the State Department to
   suspend millions of dollars in aid to Ethiopia because of the dam
   dispute, angering Ethiopians who had accused the U.S. of being biased
   during its earlier efforts to broker a deal on the project among
   Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia walked away from those talks.

   "They will never see that money unless they adhere to that agreement,"
   Trump said Friday.

   "Occasional statements of belligerent threats to have Ethiopia succumb
   to unfair terms still abound," the statement by the Ethiopian prime
   minister's office said. "These threats and affronts to Ethiopian
   sovereignty are misguided, unproductive, and clear violations of
   international law."

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