Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry accused Ethiopia of intransigence, and revealed that its ideas to apply sovereignty to a shared water resource that crossed the state prevented reaching an agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. He said, during televised remarks from Chad, yesterday evening (Tuesday), that Egypt takes into account the Ethiopian economic interests in a way that protects the water security of Egypt and Sudan. He pointed out that Cairo will continue to talk with international partners in the Ethiopian dam file due to their ability to influence.
The Egyptian minister blamed the African Union, stressing that it had failed during the last period to generate momentum and convince the Ethiopian side to show the necessary flexibility, and declared that Egypt’s resort to the UN Security Council again at this stage was “out of the question.”
He added that applying the idea of sovereignty over a common resource that transcends the state made it difficult to reach an agreement under these circumstances, but this does not preclude that we will continue to talk with international partners because of their ability to influence, but Egypt will not allow its people to suffer any kind of harm.
