Egypt urges UN to back call for binding Ethiopian dam deal

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UNITED NATIONS (PA) – Egypt’s Foreign Minister said on Wednesday he would urge the UN Security Council to demand that Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia negotiate a binding agreement within six months on the controversial issue of the availability of water from the dam the Ethiopians are building on the main tributary of the Nile.

Sameh Shukry said in an interview with The Associated Press that 10 years of negotiations over the hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile have failed to ensure that water will continue to flow downstream in sufficient quantities to Sudan and the Egypt, where 100 million people depend on the river as their sole source of water.

Shukry said that Egypt and Sudan have called for a meeting of the Security Council in light of the “existential threat” to the peoples of the two countries of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. He also cited Ethiopia’s decision to start a second fill of the dam’s reservoir, which he said violates a 2015 agreement.

The Security Council is due to meet on Thursday and will hear from Shukry, the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ethiopian Minister of Water as well as his 15 member countries.

Tunisia, the Arab representative on the council, circulated a draft resolution calling on Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to resume negotiations at the invitation of the president of the African Union and secretary general of the UN Antonio Guterres to finalize a legally binding agreement by next January on the filling and operation of the dam. He says the deal must ensure “Ethiopia’s ability to generate hydropower (…) while preventing significant damage to the water security of downstream states.”

In addition, the draft resolution would urge Ethiopia “to refrain from continuing to unilaterally fill” the reservoir of the dam and call on Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia “to refrain from making any statements or taking measures which could jeopardize the negotiation process ”.

“We certainly support it and believe it is a balanced resolution,” said Shukry.

He said that this “empowers the President of the African Union to conduct negotiations in an improved format” in order to find ways to resolve “the issues which have prevented the conclusion of these negotiations.”

The dam is 80 percent complete and is expected to reach full production capacity in 2023, making it Africa’s largest hydropower plant and the seventh in the world, according to reports in Ethiopian state media. Ethiopia says the $ 5 billion dam is essential to ensure the vast majority of its population does not run out of electricity.

Shukry has been in New York for several days meeting with all council members to argue that the resolution is a call for the most powerful organ of the UN to act within its mandate to secure peace. and international security. He said he also argued that the council addressing the issue would not set a precedent for future discussions on water issues.

“On the contrary, the main element of the resolution is very obvious – that it encourages states to continue to resolve a conflict by peaceful means, through negotiations,” he said.

When asked if he foresees any opposition among the 15 council members to the resolution, Shukry said Egypt thinks many of them recognize the importance of tackling the issue. “We therefore believe that in principle, and under the responsibility of the council, there should be no opposition,” he said.

He said his message on Thursday will be “that the negotiations must be successful”,

The resolution offers the best to ensure Ethiopia can use the dam to promote its development “while avoiding any significant damage to Sudan or Egypt,” he said.

Stressing that Egypt is 95% desert and 60% of Egyptians depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, Shukry said there must be legally binding rules governing the filling of the reservoir and guaranteeing “as a” assurance that during drought, or prolonged drought, Ethiopia would fill the dam responsibly, in accordance with international guidelines and rules governing this issue. “

Shukry said his message to Ethiopia is that agreements have been made elsewhere in Africa, including Senegal and Niger, as well as Europe on the Danube and Asia on sharing water on rivers that cross borders.

If this cannot be achieved, he said, millions of people in Sudan and Egypt will live without security with “devastating effects” on their livelihoods.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi warned Ethiopia earlier this year that his government will not tolerate any measures that reduce Egypt’s share of Nile water. He said that “all options are open” if Egypt’s part is “affected”, urging Addis Ababa to cooperate with Cairo and Khartoum to avoid any conflict.

When asked if military action was a possibility, Shukry said Egypt would continue to seek a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

“Until now, unfortunately, our Ethiopian brothers have not shown the necessary flexibility or moderation that can lead to an agreement,” said Shukry.

The Egyptian government, he said, “will take all necessary measures to protect the Egyptian people and their water rights.”

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