Ethiopia responds to U.S. president's statements on disagreement with Egypt over GERD

CAIRO – 24 October 2020: In response to the statements of U.S. President Donald Trump on Ethiopia's evasion from signing a U.S.-brokered deal with Egypt and Sudan on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said, "the Renaissance Dam is the dam of Ethiopia and Ethiopians will continue that work whatsoever. There is no power that can stop us from achieving our goals that we have planned for. We have never been occupied and no one shall rule us in the future," as reported by Sky News Arabia.

Ahmed added in a statement, "No one can harm Ethiopia and live in peace. Ethiopians will win… There are friends who made that history with us. Also, there are friends who betrayed us while making that history. That's not unfamiliar to Ethiopia."

Trump's statements came in a phone call with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in the presence of press. The U.S. president added that Ethiopia's acts drove him to cut some aid to the country, and that if it does not commit to the deal, it would never receive such funding.

The main point of disagreement at present is that Ethiopia does not want a binding agreement, which has caused the suspension of talks. An agreement was reached in January but Ethiopia did not attend the signing meeting in Washington. Later, several negotiations rounds took place but were in vain culminating into the current stalemate.

The United States president Donald Trump urged Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok to do all the efforts he can to reach a solution regarding The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue between Egypt and Ethiopia.

During a phone call, Friday between Trump, Hamdok and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the U.S. president asked regarding the latest updates on the dam issue saying: “How is the dam doing in Ethiopia”

He added addressing Hamdok: “Ethiopia built a dam that stops the water from flowing into the Nile which causes Egypt a little bit of a problem as it should.”

“I had a deal done for them and unfortunately Ethiopia broke the deal which should not have done. That was a great mistake” Trump said.

He noted to suspending the U.S. aid to Ethiopia over the GERD, saying “we stopped paying lot of aid to them, and they will not see that money again until they adhere to the agreement. But they build a dam that stops the water from flowing into Nile and you can’t blame Egypt from being a little bit upset.”

“I had a deal done and they broke the deal and they cannot do that” Trump said, adding, “It’s a very dangerous situation because Egypt is not gone be able to live that way. Egypt might end up blowing that dam, they said it loud and clear they might blow up the dam, and they’ll have to do something.”