After the High Dam post... Egypt embarrasses the Ethiopian minister because of its deletion

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

In a comment carrying a sarcastic tone, the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation downplayed the statements issued by the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy regarding the construction of the High Dam, describing them as “controversies.”

An official source in the ministry said, according to what the official Middle East News Agency reported on Saturday evening, that the Ethiopian minister’s statements reflect a state of political imbalance that is not worth the trouble of responding or wasting time.

The Egyptian source's comment came in response to the controversial post that the Ethiopian minister published on his official Facebook account related to the High Dam, before he later deleted it in an act that raised many eyebrows.

The responsible source explained that the fundamental and real question that the Ethiopian side must answer in front of everyone is not the content of the statement, but rather: “Why did the Ethiopian minister rush to delete his shameful post from his account shortly after it was published?”

He stressed that these actions are nothing more than a miserable and helpless attempt to divert attention from the essence of the existing crisis, which is Addis Ababa’s continued unilateral decisions and actions related to its illegal dam, in clear and continuous violation of the rules of international law and the agreements regulating the intersecting waterways.

The Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, Habtamu Etefa, said that his country has a sovereign right to develop and use its water resources in the Nile River based on the principle of fair and reasonable use, rejecting calls for Ethiopia to obtain prior approval from downstream countries for its projects to develop water resources.

The minister explained in a post on social media early on Saturday morning that Ethiopia has repeatedly called for consultation on Nile water projects, revealing that historical records from the 1950s documented Ethiopian objections to the absence of broader consultation regarding the Aswan project and previous arrangements related to the Nile water.

Habtamo said that the Renaissance Dam is subject to a more recent regional framework, represented by the 2015 Declaration of Principles, which was signed by Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, stressing that the historical legacy of the High Dam in Aswan in Egypt and its construction caused widespread social unrest, noting that the project was implemented without Ethiopia’s approval.

Habtamu said: “Before criticizing Ethiopia, Egypt should explain why it built the High Dam in Aswan without Ethiopia’s approval,” linking the historical experience of the Aswan project to the current debate regarding the Renaissance Dam.

He considered that Egypt's historical record weakens its criticism of Ethiopia on the basis of consultation with downstream countries only, pointing to the "displacement of Nubian communities" linked to the High Dam project.

It is noteworthy that the crisis between the two countries goes back to years of faltering negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia regarding the rules for filling and operating the Renaissance Dam, as Cairo insists on reaching a binding legal agreement that guarantees no harm to its water security and its historical share in the waters of the Nile River, and Addis Ababa insists on moving forward with unilateral measures without coordination with the two downstream countries.

The recent period witnessed a remarkable escalation in the tone of diplomatic and media exchanges between the two parties, following Ethiopia’s announcement of the completion of the filling operations and the opening of the final stages of the dam, which Egypt considered a clear violation of the Declaration of Principles signed in 2015 and international law.