Cairo / Anadolu

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty accused Ethiopia on Monday of managing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile River in a 'politicized manner' through unilateral actions against Egypt and Sudan.

That came during a joint press conference with Mozambican Foreign Minister Manuela Lopes in Cairo.

Abdelatty said the water issue is 'existential' and a priority for Egypt, stressing that 'there can be no complacency about it.'

He added that Egypt has repeatedly warned that the Ethiopian dam 'was built through unilateral measures, does not respect international law or prior coordination, and Ethiopia, as an upstream country, cannot act unilaterally.'

He noted that Ethiopia's management of the dam 'in a politicized manner' and without prior coordination with the downstream states (Egypt and Sudan) entails 'severe negative repercussions.'

He explained that water retention without prior coordination led in recent days to a drop in water levels in Sudan, affecting its availability for Sudanese people.

Abdelatty stressed that Egypt 'is not against Ethiopia's right to development, but without causing harm to Sudan and Egypt,' adding: 'They have the right to development, and we have the right to life.'

Disagreements continue between Egypt and Sudan on one side and Ethiopia on the other regarding the filling and operation of the GERD, which Addis Ababa began constructing in 2011 and inaugurated in September 2025.

Cairo and Khartoum demand reaching a legally binding tripartite agreement regulating the filling and operation processes before completing them.

In contrast, Ethiopia sees the project as not requiring a binding agreement and asserts it does not intend to harm any other country's interests, which led to a three-year freeze in negotiations before their resumption in 2023 and then their suspension again in 2024.