Cairo, Sept 12: Egypt has said that Ethiopia’s filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reservoir on the Blue Nile river without a consensus with Egypt and Sudan, the two downstream countries, is a violation of the Declaration of Principles, a previously signed tripartite deal. On Sunday, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on social media X, formerly known as Twitter, the completion of the fourth and final filling of the GERD reservoir. “This is a violation by Ethiopia of the Declaration of Principles signed by the three sides in 2015,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “This move and its negative effects place a burden on the resumed negotiations, which have been set for four months to conclude,” the ministry said. Ethiopia started to build the GERD in 2011 and expects the giant hydropower project to generate more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity, but Egypt and Sudan have been worried that it might reduce their proportion of Nile water.

Source: Ethiopian News September 12, 2023 04:11 UTC