Newslex Point News in Uganda, Uganda news
Ethiopia said it has begun its next phase of filling a controversial mega-dam on the Nile River according to Egyptian authorities. This has risen tensions ahead of an upcoming UN Security Council on the issue.
Egypt said the move is ‘’a violation of international laws and norms that regulate projects built on the shared basins of international rivers’’. The country also expressed its ‘’firm rejection of this unilateral measure,’’ its irrigation ministry said in a statement late Monday.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is set to be the largest of all hydroelectric dams on the entire African continent upon completion.
It is the source of an almost decade-long diplomatic stand-off between Addis Ababa, and downstream nations Egypt and Sudan.
For Ethiopia, it says this project is very essential to the country’s development. However, Cairo and Khartoum fear it could restrict their citizens’ water access.
Both countries have been pushing Addis Ababa to ink a binding deal over the filling and operation of the dam.
They have also been urging the UN Security Council to take on the matter in the most recent weeks.
The request for Thursday’s meeting came from Tunisia on behalf of Egypt and Sudan according to a diplomatic source.
The French ambassador to the UN, however, said there is very little that the council can do apart from bringing the sides together.
In a note to the UN, Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry said the negotiations are at an impasse. He accused Ethiopia of adopting ‘’a policy of intransigence that undermined their collective endeavors to reach an agreement.’’
Addis Ababa had however previously announced it would proceed to phase 2 in July with or without a deal.
Check also;
- President Museveni Commissions The 183MW Isimba Dam
- NEMA Explains Large Scale Fish Deaths At Lake Victoria Shores
- Shocking: Tornado Struck Lake Bunyonyi
Please use the button below to contribute to Newslex Point, Inc. using a credit card or via PayPal.
