The Ethiopian government has rejected an Arab League proposal that calls for the United Nations Security Council to intervene in the long-running dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over a mega-dam constructed on the Blue Nile, the Nile River’s main tributary, reported Al Jazeera.
Foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab League bloc met in Qatar on Tuesday in the latest effort called by downstream Nile countries Egypt and Sudan to reach an agreement on the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it said that the resolution was a repeat of the Arab States misguided positions on the GERD.
The statement added that the League of Arab States has already squandered its opportunity to play a constructive role to solve the dispute due to its egregious support to Egypt and Sudan’s claims regarding the GERD.
“The Arab League of States should know that utilization of the Nile waters is also an existential matter for Ethiopia,” the East African nation’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “Ethiopia is exercising its legitimate right to use its water resources in full respect of international law and the principle of causing no significant harm.”
Tuesday’s meeting of the Arab states came a few days after Egypt submitted 95 pages document to the UNSC calling for the council to intervene in the GERD negotiations before the Ethiopian government goes ahead with the second filling of the dam.
The GERD, which is now 80-percent complete, is expected to reach full generating capacity in 2023, making it Africa’s largest hydroelectric power generator and the world’s seventh-largest.
Ethiopia claims that the dam will help in economic development and power generation. Egypt, which relies on the river for as much as 90 percent of its freshwater, sees the new dam as an existential threat. Sudan is also concerned about how the GERD will affect the operation of its own Nile dams and water stations.
