Egypt, Sudan say Ethiopia’s Nile dam is ‘a threat to stability’

Egypt and Sudan on Thursday said that Ethiopia’s controversial mega dam on the Nile posed a continued threat to stability of the situation in the eastern Nile Basin.

The Egyptian and Sudanese foreign and irrigation ministers said this in a joint statement after a meeting in Cairo.

The statement is released one week before the scheduled official inauguration of the dam.

The two sides agreed that the Ethiopian dam is in violation of international law.

“It has a serious repercussions for the two downstream countries and represents a continuing threat to the stability of the situation in the eastern Nile Basin in accordance with international law.”

They said that the dangers were due to “Ethiopia’s unilateral moves to fill and operate the dam, concerns over the dam’s safety, and the risks of of uncontrolled water releases and managing drought times.

Ethiopia must change its policy to restore cooperation between the three countries, they added.

Sudanese and Egyptian water security is linked, the statement added, and the two nations “reaffirmed their complete rejection of any unilateral actions in the eastern Nile Basin that would harm their water interests.”

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) had been a source of controversy and tensions between Ethiopia and the other riverside states of Sudan and Egypt, even before Ethiopia began construction in 2011.

Ethiopia considered the dam as essential to its development and said it would produce enough electricity to provide power to millions of citizens.

It had filled the dam over five stages between 2020 and 2024 and planed to inaugurate it on Sept. 9.

Meanwhile, Egypt saw the dam as an existential threat and feared that it would restrict its share of the Nile water.