Stating in blunt terms that “no Nile” meant “no Egypt”, he said he would soon be heading to Addis Ababa to confront the Ethiopian government directly over the state-sponsored 6,000 megawatt dam, which is now over 20% complete.
Amr’s comments follow a defiant statement by a spokesman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn last weekend, in which it was stated that the dam’s construction was “not subject to negotiation.” “Demanding a halt is simply a non-starter”, spokesman Gatechew Reda said.
Egyptian officials had already accidentally provoked Ethiopia last week when they engaged in crisis talks, apparently unaware that their meeting was in fact being broadcast on live television. Among the suggestions made in the televised meeting were the spreading of rumours that Egypt had been building up its air force, the lending of support to rebel groups in Ethiopia, or – in the last resort – the destruction of the dam.
The current confrontation is one of many that has sprung up between the countries that share the Nile over the past few decades, and there have often been fears that such disputes may lead to war. Gatechew said he hoped Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi would “be on the side of reason”.
