Egyptian water officials dismissed recent statements from Ethiopia’s water and energy minister regarding the High Dam in Aswan as political distraction and absurdity, following a social media post that the Ethiopian official subsequently deleted.
Habtamo Ittifa Claims Egypt Built Aswan Without Consent
The diplomatic friction between Cairo and Addis Ababa intensified after Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy Habtamo Ittifa asserted that Egypt constructed the High Dam in Aswan without obtaining Ethiopia’s consent. In statements circulated by official state media, the Ethiopian official argued that his country holds a sovereign right to develop and utilize Nile water resources under the principle of equitable and reasonable use.
Minister Ittifa contended that historical archives from the 1950s document Ethiopian objections to the construction of the Aswan project due to a lack of consultation.
The Ethiopian minister further claimed that the historical legacy and creation of the High Dam at Aswan caused widespread social upheaval. In his published commentary, he pointed to the displacement of Nubian communities associated with the Aswan project and maintained that Egypt lacks any moral basis to criticize Ethiopia for consulting with downstream countries given its own historical record.
Habtamo Ittifa said, Before criticizing Ethiopia, Egypt should explain why it built the High Dam in Aswan without Ethiopia's approval.
Cairo Rejects Deleted Social Media Post as Political Instability
Cairo responded sharply to the remarks through an official source at the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, who characterized the statements as absurdities reflecting political instability that do not warrant spending time on formal rebuttals. An official Egyptian source noted that the remarks reflect a lack of political balance and do not deserve the waste of time required to answer them.
The ministry source noted that the central question requiring an answer is why the Ethiopian minister promptly deleted his social media post after publishing it.
An official Egyptian source emphasized that the real issue is Addis Ababa’s persistence in taking unilateral actions regarding its unauthorized dam in clear and continuous violation of international law rules governing shared watercourses.
Egypt Relies on Nile Water for Nearly All Freshwater Needs
The exchange features years of stalled negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia regarding the filling and operation rules for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Egypt relies on the river for roughly 90% of its freshwater needs, supporting a population of about 108 million people.
Meanwhile, Addis Ababa defends its hydroelectric development as an essential exercise of national sovereignty, rejecting calls for prior approval from downstream states on water development projects. Egyptian authorities counter that historical grievances regarding Aswan do not provide a moral justification for uncoordinated projects on international rivers today, while local commentators criticized the Ethiopian minister for misunderstanding his country’s position as an upstream nation.
