Egypt has notified the United Nations Security Council about its rejection of Ethiopia’s plan to start the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) during this year’s rainy season.
In a letter to the council late on Friday, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said Egypt also rejects Ethiopia’s policy of imposing a fait accompli on downstream states, Egypt and Sudan, through taking unilateral moves that blatantly violate the rules of international law.
The foreign minister said he is sending the rejection to the Security Council in the light of its responsibilities and according to the United Nations charter for maintaining international peace and security.
The Egyptian letter was circulated in the Security Council as an official document, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez said.
He added that the letter aimed to alert the international community about the reality of Ethiopia’s intransigent positions that caused the failure of all efforts to reach a fair, balanced and legally binding deal on the dam in the past months within the framework of African Union-sponsored talks.
Hafez noted that Egypt had also lodged a detailed file about the Ethiopian dam issue in the Security Council and about Egypt’s vision on it.
The file, he said, should serve as a term of reference for the international community on this issue.
It documents the constructive and responsible positions taken by Egypt over the past decade during negotiations on the dam.
The report also throws light on Egypt’s sincere efforts to reach a deal that puts the interests of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan into consideration.
