Egypt’s statement on Ethiopian Prime Minister’s alleged remarks

CAIRO – 22 October 2019: Egypt has issued a statement on Tuesday in response to the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s alleged remarks on Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam talks.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed allegedly gave provocative statements regarding GERD, in which he warned that his country could ready millions of people in case a war broke out over the dam.

Here is the full statement:

“The Arab Republic of Egypt expressed its great shock and deep concern in a press statement issued by the state’s Foreign Ministry over the remarks allegedly attributed to the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during a parliament session, which included unacceptable and negative notions regarding the renaissance dam topic.

A reaction leaves Egypt perplexed as it is inappropriate to bring up a rhetoric that includes military options, which makes Egypt confused as Ahmed’s alleged remarks clearly violate the principals and the very law spirit of the African Union, especially since Egypt’s approach of the issue has always been only based on negotiation in accordance with the International law. Egypt through many years has always called for transparent negotiation as a way to settle the disputes over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) between the three countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan).

The statement expressed Egypt’s state of shock of the alleged remarks as they were told only a few days after the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s winning of Nobel Peace Prize, a news celebrated by everyone and is considered as an incentive for Ethiopia to show more political flexibility and good intentions to reach an obligatory legal agreement that values the interests of the three countries, especially that such a sensitive issue that has a heavy impact on the destiny of the three nations’ people cannot be handled by just promises.

Egypt has received an invitation from the US, as it is keen to break the deadlock engulfing GERD talks, to hold a tripartite meeting in Washington that includes the ministers of foreign affairs in the three countries. Egypt immediately accepted the invitation in accordance with its constant policy to activate GERD’s “Declaration of Principles” signed in 2015 and its confidence in America’s good intentions."