Egypt complains to UN Security Council over Ethiopian dam amid rising tensions

Cairo dismisses Ethiopia's 'unilateral policies' on Gerd project, claiming they threaten regional stability

Ethiopia says the dam is essential to the country's development and will not affect downstream Egypt and Sudan adversely. AFP

Egypt said on Sunday it had written to the UN Security Council to protest against what it calls Ethiopia's unilateral policies over a large Nile dam it is building, which Cairo sees as a threat to its vital share of the river's waters.

Cairo rejects Ethiopia's policies of moving ahead with completing the construction of the dam and filling its reservoir without consulting downstream Egypt, the letter written by Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty read. Addis Ababa's position, it added, threatens regional stability.

“Egypt has negotiated in good faith [with Ethiopia] for 13 years. The negotiations have been halted after it became clear to everyone that Addis Ababa wanted them to continue indefinitely as a cover while it created a de facto situation on the ground,” it said.

The Egyptian letter does not add anything new to the long-standing Egyptian position on Ethiopia's handling of the dispute with Cairo over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd). However, it takes on added significance because it comes amid rising tensions between the two nations.

Egypt deeply angered Ethiopia when it sent arms, military hardware and troops to Somalia last week to bolster the Horn of Africa nation's defences.

Egypt and Somalia have forged closer relations since landlocked Ethiopia signed a preliminary deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland this year to lease coastal land in exchange for possible recognition of its independence from Somalia.

Somalia called the deal an assault on its sovereignty and said it would block it by all means necessary. It has also threatened to bring home an estimated 10,000 Ethiopian troops there as part of a peacekeeping mission to fight Al Shabab militants, if the deal is not cancelled. Egypt has said it plans to apply to the African Union to be part of a new peacekeeping force in Somalia.

Egypt, a mainly desert country with a population of 106 million, depends on the Nile for almost all its freshwater needs. Considered one of the world's driest nations, it claims that any reduction in its share of the Nile waters would upset its delicate food balance and wipe out hundreds of thousands of agricultural jobs.

Ethiopia says the dam is essential to the country's development and has repeatedly assured downstream Egypt and Sudan that no harm would come to them from the Gerd, which is being built on the Blue Nile.

The majority of the river's waters that reach Egypt come from the Blue Nile, which joins the White Nile in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, before flowing north into the deserts of Sudan and Egypt.

“The illegal Ethiopian policies will have negative and grave consequences for downstream Egypt and Sudan," Egypt told the Security Council in Sunday's letter. “Egypt will continue to closely monitor developments and stay prepared to take all the measures and steps under the provisions of the UN charter to defend its existence and the interests of its people.”