Egypt hosts a quadripartite summit on Sunday... and Sisi warns Ethiopia about the Nile waters

On Sunday, Egypt will host a four-party consultative summit in the city of El Alamein, which includes the presidents of Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia, regarding developments in the situation in the Horn of Africa, the waters of the Nile, and security tensions in the Red Sea, against the backdrop of military confrontations between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis. The official spokesman for the Egyptian presidency said in a statement, on Saturday, that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will participate, on Sunday, in the work of the eighth mid-year coordination summit of the African Union, hosted by the new city of El Alamein.

The Egyptian presidential spokesman added that Sisi will participate in the El Alamein Consultative Summit, which brings together the leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia, within the “framework of consultation and coordination on regional issues of common interest.” Al-Sisi’s meetings and his warning regarding the Nile waters. The summit was preceded by meetings that Al-Sisi conducted in El Alamein, on Saturday, with the presidents of Somalia, Eritrea, and Burundi, which dealt with security developments in the Horn of Africa region, and his warning that “the Nile waters are an existential issue for Egypt.”

In El Alamein, Al-Sisi received the President of Burundi and the current President of the African Union, Evariste Ndayishimiye. Egyptian presidential spokesman, Ambassador Mohamed El-Shenawy, said in a statement that the two presidents discussed the latest developments in the Nile water issue, and Al-Sisi stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation between the Nile Basin countries on the basis of achieving common interests and not harming any of the basin countries, stressing the constants of the Egyptian position represented in preserving Egypt’s water rights and interests, as an “existential issue” for the Egyptian people.

He also affirmed Egypt's support for development efforts in all Nile Basin countries, warning of "the dangers of unilateral measures that affect the water interests of riparian countries," and stressed "Egypt's refusal to exploit the Nile water issue for political gains." The Burundian president affirmed, "His country fully understands the Egyptian concerns related to the Nile water issue, and considers the water issue an issue of life and an existential issue for Egypt, and the inability to achieve development at the expense of people," according to what the Egyptian presidency reported.

Al-Sisi received Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, on the sidelines of the activities of the “Alamein...Africa Business Forum” in New Alamein City.

Egyptian presidential spokesman, Ambassador Mohamed El-Shenawy, said that the meeting dealt with the latest developments in the regional situation, especially in the Horn of Africa region. Al-Sisi affirmed “Egypt’s full support for the security and stability of the State of Eritrea, and respect for its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” stressing Egypt’s categorical rejection of any violation of the sovereignty of states or infringement of their territorial integrity, in violation of the principles of international law and the founding system of the African Union.

Al-Sisi also stressed “the constants of the Egyptian position in support of Somalia’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.” This came during Sisi’s reception of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, on Saturday, in El Alamein, where the two presidents agreed on the importance of continuing coordination and consultation between Egypt, Somalia, and the countries of the region regarding issues related to the security and stability of the Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Aden, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Red Sea, in a way that contributes to strengthening regional security and preserving the interests of the countries and peoples of the region.

On Saturday, Sisi opened the first session of the “El Alamein-Africa Business Forum,” which is hosted by the New City of El Alamein. On Saturday, the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, Habtamu Etefa, spoke about the High Dam that Egypt built on the Nile River in Aswan, in the south of the country, claiming that the project was implemented “without Ethiopia’s approval,” unlike the Renaissance Dam, which was built based on the Declaration of Principles agreement signed between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia in 2015, according to what was reported by the official Ethiopian “ENA” news agency.

An official Egyptian source responded to the recent statements attributed to the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, during which he spoke about building additional dams on the Nile River and “controlling” water flows to the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan. The source said that these statements “represent an extension of the unilateral Ethiopian approach in flagrant violation of international law, and reflect Addis Ababa’s continued illusions about the possibility of imposing hegemony over a common international river and subjecting it to the will of one state,” according to what was reported by the Egyptian government website, Al-Ahram Gate.

Egypt has strongly opposed the construction of the dam from the beginning, arguing that it violates water treaties dating back to the British colonial era and poses an existential threat. Egypt fears that the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will reduce its water supply during periods of drought and lead to the construction of other dams upstream.

Renewed fighting in Ethiopia In recent weeks, Tigray rebels are fighting against the federal government again, while forces that were once enemies fight side by side. Tigray forces seized three airports that were under the control of the federal government, coinciding with the outbreak of fighting in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.

These hostilities undermined the 2022 peace agreement, which ended a war estimated to have killed some 600,000 people. Relations between the federal government and Tigray's leaders have been deteriorating for months.

It remains unclear what sparked the latest fighting, with both sides giving conflicting accounts of its beginning. The Tigray regional government said that federal forces launched the attack first, and that it had ordered its forces to respond, describing it as a "defensive war."

On the other hand, Getachew Reda, advisor to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said that the Tigray People's Liberation Front launched a "comprehensive attack" on government sites in Afar and Amhara, and took control of the three airports in Tigray, accusing the Front of taking its irresponsible practices to "new levels." Ethiopian escalation against Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea. These developments come in light of the Ethiopian escalation against Egypt, Eritrea, and Sudan, after Addis Ababa claimed that they were providing support to opposition armed factions seeking to overthrow the government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, which the three countries denied.

In a later development, last Thursday, Addis Ababa declared an Egyptian diplomat “persona non grata” and gave him 48 hours to leave the country, to which Cairo responded with a similar move. At the same time, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had decided to close its embassy in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, in response to what it described as “direct and indirect acts of hostility and escalation carried out by Eritrea against Ethiopia,” according to ENA.

The ministry declared 10 Eritrean diplomats in Addis Ababa persona non grata, claiming that they participated in activities that “constitute a direct threat to Ethiopian national security, in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.” An Egyptian source: Ethiopia’s crisis is an internal issue. “Cairo News”, through its account on the “X” platform, previously Twitter.

The source confirmed, on Saturday, that Egypt's foreign policy is based on respecting the sovereignty of states and non-interference in internal affairs, while fully adhering to the principles of good neighborliness. The source stressed that the current crisis in Ethiopia is an internal crisis and that Egypt has nothing to do with it, stressing that we should not be led by some people’s attempts to divert attention from the real internal motives behind what is happening there.

This came after Ethiopia asked a diplomat at the Egyptian embassy in Addis Ababa to leave its territory within 48 hours, last Thursday.