Badr Abdel Atty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, sent a letter on Tuesday to the President of the UN Security Council following recent developments on the Blue Nile. This was prompted by Ethiopia’s event to announce the completion and operation of its dam, which Egypt considers to be in violation of international law.
In a statement, the Foreign Minister explained that despite Ethiopia’s desperate attempts to give the dam a false cover of acceptance and legitimacy, it remains a unilateral measure that violates international law and norms. It will not have any consequences that can affect the legal system governing the Eastern Nile Basin in accordance with international law.
He added that Ethiopia’s recent actions constitute a new breach on top of a long list of its violations of international law, including the UN Security Council’s presidential statement issued on September 15, 2021. He noted that Egypt has a steadfast position of rejecting all of Ethiopia’s unilateral actions on the Nile River and will not recognize their consequences on the existential interests of the peoples of the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
The Egyptian letter to the Security Council stated that since the start of the unilateral GERD project, Cairo has exercised the utmost self-restraint over the past years and chose to resort to diplomacy and international organizations, including the United Nations.
This was not because of an inability to defend our existential interests, but rather due to Egypt’s firm conviction in the importance of enhancing cooperation and achieving shared benefits among the peoples of the Nile Basin countries in accordance with international law, in a way that serves developmental interests and respects the concerns of downstream nations.
In contrast, Addis Ababa has adopted a stubborn stance and sought to procrastinate in negotiations and impose a fait accompli, driven by a political agenda—not developmental needs—to rally its domestic population against a perceived enemy, all while making false claims about sovereignty over the Nile River, which is the shared property of its riparian states.
Egypt stressed that any misconceptions that Cairo would turn a blind eye to its existential interests in the Nile River are mere delusions. Egypt is committed to applying international law on the Nile River and will not allow Ethiopia’s attempts to unilaterally dominate the management of water resources. Egypt reserves its right to take all measures guaranteed by international law and the UN Charter to defend the existential interests of its people.
