With the approaching date of the start of filling the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam approaching, the conflict moved to the United Nations Security Council, where Egypt submitted a resolution for discussion, while Ethiopia warned that this step makes the solution more difficult.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that his country submitted a draft resolution for discussion by the UN Security Council on the Renaissance Dam in line with the results of the meeting of the African Union Office.
He added during a video session of the Security Council that the council should consider this issue seriously to avoid destabilizing the already troubled region.
Shoukry pointed out that the Renaissance Dam is important for the development of Ethiopia and its people, but at the same time it represents a threat to millions of Egyptians and Sudanese if Addis Ababa decides to fill it unilaterally and without agreement.
For his part, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that his country lives in a highly turbulent region and that its national security is linked to its regional environment and extends to every point that could negatively affect what he called Egypt's historical rights.
Warning
On the other hand, the Ethiopian delegate to the UN Security Council, Tay Asaki Selassie, warned that accepting the council to discuss the Renaissance Dam issue increases the risks and pushes towards more rigid positions of the countries concerned.
The Ethiopian delegate added that the best way to solve the problem is to refer the issue to the African Union and encourage the three countries (Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan) to return to the tripartite negotiations.
Selassie called on the UN Security Council not to "exaggerate aspects of the dispute" by threatening to deepen it and undermine what has been reached so far.
The Ethiopian Irrigation Minister, Selashly Baqli, said earlier that no party can stop the work of the dam, stressing that the program to mobilize the dam will take place according to the specified time.
The window is narrowing
For its part, the US delegate to the United Nations, Kelly Kraft, said that her country is working with all parties to reach a final agreement on the Renaissance Dam, noting at the same time that the window is narrowing.
At the start of a video session of the UN Security Council to discuss the crisis, Kraft called on the three countries to build on the significant progress they had made in previous negotiations, and to refrain from making any statements or taking any measures that would undermine the goodwill necessary to achieve an agreement.
As for the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Peacebuilding Rose Marie de Carlo, she said that the remaining differences between the parties are technical and legal, and that they include the binding nature of the agreement, the mechanism for conflict resolution, and the management of water flow during droughts.