Egypt's FM concludes African tour discussing GERD in Tunisia

CAIRO – 22 April 2021: Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered a letter from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to his Tunisian counterpart Kais Saied on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Thursday.

Shoukry was received by Tunisian Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi. The visit comes as part of an African tour by the Egyptian minister to update African leaders on the negotiations of GERD. Tunisia was his last station after visiting Senegal, DR Congo, Niger, Kenya, Comoros and South Africa.

For his part, Saeid visited Egypt on April 10, and said in a press conference that Tunisia support Egypt’s water rights.

“I say it before the entire world, we are looking for just solutions but the Egyptian national security is our own; Egypt's position in any international forum is ours. I say this in complete conviction,” Saied said.

“Because we have read history well, and we read the future well, and we will not accept in any way jeopardizing the water security of Egypt. We are looking for just solutions but not at the expense of Egypt's water security,” the Tunisian president added. 

Rounds of negotiations among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on GERD have reached a deadlock several times with Egypt blaming the failure on Ethiopia’s intransigence.

Egypt and Sudan want that a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam should be reached before Ethiopia implements the second phase of dam filling.

Ethiopia, however, says it will complete the dam filling in July with or without an agreement. Meanwhile, Egypt said Ethiopia did not produce electricity from the dam after the first filling as it claimed it would. Egypt also claims that Ethiopia does not have the capacity to do so after the second filling. Thus, Egypt says Ethiopia “insists on merely harming Egypt and Sudan.”

Shoukry on April 13 sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council, calling on the international community to engage in advancing the stalled GERD talks and persuade Ethiopia to refrain from unilateral acts.