Egypt warns of false reports about Ethiopian dam

PARIS - 12 December 2017: Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aati on Tuesday warned against circulating wrong information on Egypt regarding the Ethiopian dam and the use of Nile water.

At a seminar held in the French Senate on the role of diplomacy in settling disputes related to the Nile River, he added that Egypt has sent a letter to the World Bank asking it on behalf of eastern Nile Basin countries to finance studies on setting up the first dam on the Blue Nile.

While studies are underway, another dam was announced to be set up, he said, noting that not so many people are aware of this information.

An international company was hired to compile two studies on the dam. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian side asked for introducing amendments into the preconditions of the contract and inserting new articles, he added.

It was important to keep the Egyptian public opinion posted about all these developments, he said, adding that the Declaration of Principles that was signed by Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia calls for referring any would-be dispute to the ministerial level to be settled. If not, it could be referred to the level of foreign ministers and then to the presidential level, he added.

Referring the issue to the ministerial level took five months. The dispute was also referred to the higher level in accordance with the Declaration of Principles, he added.