Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi renewed his call to reach a binding agreement with Ethiopia regarding the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, with the escalation of the controversy again between Cairo and Addis Ababa.
Al-Sisi said during his meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mita Frederiksen in Cairo today, Monday, that it is required to reach a legal and binding agreement on the dam, stressing that Egypt, which he described as the driest country in the world, cannot bear any water shortage at any time, as he put it. .
The Egyptian president pointed out that, over thousands of years, there has been no dam on the Nile River that affects its water, whether it is little or a lot, according to him.
A few days ago, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Meles Elm, called for resolving disputes over the Renaissance Dam within the "African House" because the Nile River is African, as he put it, calling for stopping the referral of the dam file to the UN Security Council or the League of Arab States.
The spokesman stressed that Ethiopia is continuing to complete the construction of the dam, indicating that the aim is to achieve its development projects and provide electricity to the 65 million Ethiopians who live in darkness, stressing that what he described as previous colonial agreements are old and his country will not accept them.
These statements came after Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called on Ethiopia to show responsibility, indicating that his country would defend its interests.
Shoukry said - during the meeting of Arab foreign ministers last Wednesday - that the danger of unilateral Ethiopian practices on the common river basin is a pivotal issue of advanced priority, and has fateful consequences for Egypt's national security.
During their meeting, the Arab foreign ministers adopted a decision to make the Renaissance Dam crisis a permanent item on the agenda of the Council of the League of Arab States.