MPs submit memorandum rejecting Ethiopian PM’s visit to Egyptian parliament

Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

Egyptian MP, Abdel Hamid Kamal, along with 18 other MPs submitted an urgent memorandum to the Parliamentary Speaker, Ali Abdelaal, rejecting the scheduled visit of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia to the Egyptian Parliament, in order to discuss the potential dangers of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

 

“Due to the seriousness of the anticipated visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister to the House of Representatives, which he [plans] in the month of December, we have reservations against the visit.”

The MPs’ memorandum went on explaining their reservations and concern about the Ethiopian PM piling pressure against Egypt, claiming he will “spare no effort against Egypt in all international forums,” in pursuit of gaining support and continuing construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The memorandum then explicitly warned that Ethiopian pressure will involve spreading “legal, political, and economic lies that negatively affect our national cause of the Nile waters.”

The water of the River Nile is an integral part of Egypt’s national security, labeling it a “red line,” before asserting “we announce our rejection to the [Ethiopian PM’s] visit.”

Additionally, the memorandum called for meetings between MPs and ministers for agriculture, irrigation, and foreign affairs, as well as national experts, to discuss the ongoing issue of the dam.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Source    –   EGYPT INDEPENDENT

We won’t accept cuts to our share of Nile waters, even a cup less, Egypt.

Al-Masry Al-Youm

December 2, 2017

Egypt Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel Ati said Saturday that Egypt won’t accept any cuts to its share of water from the Nile River, not “even a cup less.”

In statements to reporters, Ati said that all state institutions concerned are involved with Egypt’s team in its ongoing negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

“Egypt does not refuse that any country builds dams, on the contrary, we have participated in the construction of many dams in African countries, but without prejudice to the interest of Egypt and its historical share (of Nile waters),” Ati said.

“We stumbled from the beginning in the technical negotiations as Ethiopia violated what we previously agreed upon, and began establishing the dam with different specifications, so we began to resort to other legitimate ways to maintain our share and our rights,” the minister said.

 

“We must admit that the dam has damage to Egypt, and we are currently working to ensure that there is no serious damage to Egypt’s share. We will not allow it. We are a desert country and we rely 97 percent on water from outside the border, whether it is the Nile waters or the underground water which is shared by Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Chad. There are differences, but they must end sooner or later so that each of us cares about the interests of the other,” Ati said.

The Minister of Irrigation said, “Currently there are obstacles in the negotiations of the Renaissance Dam, and this is the nature of the negotiations in any case, and there are different methods of negotiation, and public opinion in Egypt is necessary to know the existence of obstacle.”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Source   –   Egypt Independent

Sudan initiates effort to bridge gap between Egypt, Ethiopia over GERD

Al-Masry Al-Youm

Sudan suggested an initiative for settling the disagreements between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding their dispute about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), by suggesting French consultancy firms BRL and Artlia conduct environmental studies on the impact of the dam, sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Tuesday.

Sources reported that the head of the Sudanese technical team, Saif al-Din Hamad, is in tripartite talks saying that the initiative is based on the amount of River Nile water (55.5 billion cubic meters) that Egypt receives, and that the Ethiopian side has agreed to it in principle.

Sources added that consulting firms could conduct studies on the amount of water which flows through the river, and the use of water by countries along which the river runs. Accordingly, they would then apply models for filling and storing the dam, which is governed by The Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers and The 1997 United Nations Convention on the law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.

What Khartoum raised is an ambiguous and incomprehensible issue, the source stated, adding that during the recent meetings in Cairo, Sudan and Ethiopia tried to disregard terms and reference for the implementation of impact studies. Also, the sources said, emptying the study of its content, through more than one baseline, is a fundamental source of the dispute.

The sources added that the Sudanese initiative seeks to calculate the amount of water arriving to the High Dam in Egypt, in addition to the waters of the White Nile coming from the Ethiopian Highlands and the waters of Atbarah River. The baseline which they seek to measure is the quantity of water coming from the Ethiopian Highlands, and it should be measured at the point of al-Daim station – located over the Blue Nile River, on the border between Sudan and Ethiopia.

The sources added that it is not Ethiopia’s right to measure the baseline according to Egypt’s 55.5 billion share of Nile water, which Sudan and Ethiopia are seeking, as part of this figure reaches Egypt from the Ethiopian Highlands and Ethiopia has no share of it.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Source   –  Egypt Independent

No one can touch Egypt’s share of Nile waters: Sisi

Al-Masry Al-Youm

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said during an inauguration ceremony of development projects in Kafr al-Sheikh Governorate Saturday, that Egypt will not allow its water resources to be reduced by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project.

“The waters of Egypt is not a subject for talk, and I assure you, no one can touch Egypt’s water,” Sisi said.

Sisi was addressing the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Ethiopia has been constructing since 2011 over the Blue Nile, one of Egypt’s major sources of freshwater. The dam is expected to be completed this year.

The negotiations of the dam project’s tripartite commission, made up of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, in Cairo last week concluded without reportedly making any tangible progress.

Egypt’s share of Nile water sits at 55.5 billion cubic meters, while Sudan’s quota is 18.5 billion cubic meters. This is in accordance with an agreement signed between the two downstream countries in 1959; an agreement Ethiopia does not recognize.

The dam is expected to reduce Egypt’s share of Nile waters, further limiting the country’s already scarce water resources.

 

Edited translation from al-Masry al-Youm

Source   –  Egypt Independent