Egypt rules out return to Ethiopia dam talks without binding guarantees

CAIRO – Egypt said on Monday it would not return to negotiations with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) unless clear safeguards were in place to protect its water rights, underlining Cairo’s diminishing confidence in a negotiation process it says has failed to produce meaningful results despite renewed US diplomatic efforts.

Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sweilem said Egypt’s decision to suspend negotiations in December 2023 remained unchanged after years of talks failed to deliver a legally binding agreement governing the filling and operation of the dam on the Blue Nile.

“The decision to suspend negotiations was a state decision,” Sweilem said in televised remarks, adding that Cairo no longer believed there was any value in continuing what he described as a fruitless negotiating process.

He accused Ethiopia of repeatedly backtracking on understandings reached during previous rounds of negotiations and failing to respect international legal principles.

“There are no negotiations at the moment,” Sweilem said. “Egypt will not engage in any new round of negotiations except within a framework of clear national principles and predetermined guarantees that protect its water rights.”

His comments came as Washington seeks to revive diplomacy between Cairo and Addis Ababa after US President Donald Trump discussed the issue with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Sweilem said the United States was acting in “good faith” in trying to narrow differences between the two countries but stressed that any future negotiations would have to differ fundamentally from more than a decade of previous talks, which Egypt says failed because of Ethiopia’s unwillingness to commit to binding obligations.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have held dozens of rounds of negotiations since Ethiopia announced construction of the dam in 2011, but have never reached a legally binding agreement on its operation.

Cairo says Ethiopia has continued filling and operating the dam unilaterally, eroding trust in the negotiation process and making any future talks contingent on international guarantees and enforceable implementation mechanisms.

Sweilem also dismissed reports that Ethiopia was experiencing drought this season, saying rainfall over the Ethiopian highlands was currently above average and describing claims to the contrary as unsupported by data.

He said Egypt’s annual share of Nile water remained fixed at 55.5 billion cubic metres while the country’s population had risen to about 120 million, reducing per capita water availability from around 2,000 cubic metres in the 1960s to less than 500 cubic metres today, well below the internationally recognised water poverty threshold of 1,000 cubic metres.

He said the growing water deficit had prompted Egypt to invest heavily over the past 12 years in water recycling projects and irrigation modernisation to safeguard domestic consumption and support major agricultural schemes.

Sudan has joined Egypt in calling for a legally binding agreement governing the filling and operation of the dam, although Khartoum also expects to benefit from improved flood management and access to cheaper electricity generated by the project.

Trump backed Egypt’s position during his first term, warning at the time that tensions over the project were serious, although US-led mediation ultimately failed to produce an agreement.