The Egyptian Minister of Irrigation, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, warned that any shortage of water resources would have huge negative repercussions on a large proportion of the country's population. For his part, France's UN delegate suggested holding a session in the Security Council next week to discuss the Renaissance Dam crisis between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Abdel-Aty explained that the damages will include the agricultural sector and the loss of job opportunities, which will lead to a state of societal instability that will lead to a large wave of irregular migration to European and other countries, or the joining of young people to terrorist groups, as he put it.

He pointed out that Egypt will not accept any unilateral Ethiopian step to mobilize and operate the Renaissance Dam, considering that the negotiations have reached a stalemate stage due to Addis Ababa's intransigence, in exchange for the great flexibility shown by Cairo, according to him.

The Egyptian minister reiterated his country's keenness to complete the negotiations to reach a just and binding legal agreement that meets the aspirations of all countries for development, while emphasizing Egypt's constants in preserving its water rights.

Egypt had called for an urgent session of the UN Security Council on the Renaissance Dam, and warned of the dangerous repercussions of what it described as evasiveness and unilateral Ethiopian measures.

In a letter to the Security Council - it was sent on the 25th of last month and revealed its content on Thursday - the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the situation constitutes an imminent threat to international peace and security, and requires the Council to immediately consider it.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry explained that after 10 years of negotiations, the issue has developed into a situation that is currently causing international friction.

For his part, France's UN representative, Nicolas de Riviere, said yesterday that the Security Council will likely meet next week to discuss the dispute between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam that the latter is building on the Blue Nile.

"I don't think the council has the experience to determine the amount of water that each country should have, this matter is outside the scope and capacity of the Security Council," he added, noting that what we can do is to invite the three countries to return to the negotiating table.

For his part, Omar Al-Farouq Sayed Kamel, the official spokesman for the Sudanese negotiating team, on the Renaissance Dam, said that the Ethiopian side’s claim that the two downstream countries had aborted the previous negotiation rounds is a talk that covers the facts.

Sayed Kamel said - in response to the Ethiopian Foreign Minister's letter to the Security Council - that it was Addis Ababa that sought to block access to a binding agreement, sometimes by intransigence and buying time, and at other times by making impossible demands.

On the other hand, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said that referring the file of the Renaissance Dam to the Security Council contradicts the United Nations Charter invoked by Egypt and Sudan, adding that differences over the Renaissance Dam can be resolved within the framework of the ongoing negotiations.

In the same context, Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti said that the army's exit from the Tigray region comes within the framework of addressing what he called external threats targeting the Renaissance Dam.

Addis Ababa says it will start the second filling of the dam's reservoir after this summer's monsoon rains, a move Sudan and Egypt oppose and demand a binding agreement on filling and operating the multi-billion dollar dam.

At a time when Cairo insists on first reaching a tripartite agreement to ensure the continued flow of its annual share of the Nile waters, Khartoum a few days ago showed a conditional willingness to accept a proposal for a “partial agreement” from Ethiopia regarding the second filling of the dam.