Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri warned against Ethiopia’s unilateral practices regarding the construction, filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Addressing the 159th meeting of the Arab Foreign Ministers’ Council in Cairo yesterday, Shoukri said that these practices negatively impact the Egyptian national security and constitute a violation of the rules of the international law and the Presidential Statement issued by the UN Security Council in September 2021 in this regard.
This comes while Ethiopia continues to fill and operate the dam despite failing to reach an agreement with the two downstream countries of Sudan and Egypt, the minister added.
“The continuation of the Ethiopian unilateral practices can pose a serious danger to Egypt, which suffers from one-of-a-kind water scarcity as the world’s driest country,” Shoukri stated. He affirmed that Egypt almost completely relies on the River Nile for its water.
The Egyptian top diplomat was earlier handed over the presidency of the 159th session.
Shoukri said Egypt will spare no effort to support the Palestinian people’s resilience against the current increasing repressive practices and violations of the international law and human rights.
The top Egyptian diplomat said the Israeli repressive practices challenge the will of the international community and the commitments and obligations that Israel had previously accepted.
“We will continue our contacts with all international and regional parties in order to support the peace track and protect the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people,” Shoukri said.
He added that the Palestinian cause remains the Arab World’s central issue, stressing adherence to the comprehensive and fair peace to resolve the cause.
He said that this peace cannot be achieved except through the establishment of the Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“I reiterate rejection and condemnation of all Israeli practices that obstruct the path of settlement, harm the future of the peace process, and push the situation in occupied Palestine and the entire region towards aggravation and tension,” the foreign minister said.
In this regard, Shoukri voiced rejection and condemnation of all forms of Israeli settling activities, aggression, violation of sanctities, and storming of the Palestinian cities, which causes victims to fall among Palestinians.
Shoukri also affirmed keenness to settle the crisis in Syria at the earliest opportunity in accordance with the relevant international resolutions, on top of which is the UN resolution 2254.
This comes in order to preserve the integrity and unity of the Syrian state, support Syria’s institutions, and end all forms of terrorism and foreign interference in the Syrian affairs.
Shoukri also stressed the need for the relations between Arab countries and neighboring states to be based on good neighborliness and mutual abidance to non-interference in their internal affairs.
Libya also saw recent “important and substantial” developments that were represented in the approval of the 13th constitutional amendment, Shoukri said.
“This contributes to fulfilling the required constitutional and legal framework to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible under the supervision of a neutral government that prioritises the Libyan state’s supreme interests,” Shoukri stressed.
The foreign minister affirmed full support to the Libyan-Libyan track to resolve the country’s cause and rejection of any foreign dictations based on the Sukhirat Agreement.
“Egypt calls on all parties involved in the Libyan crisis to abide by these indispensable foundations and determinants and views all attempts of creating new mechanisms as aiming to disrupt the scene in order to perpetuate the ongoing situation,” Shoukri said.
