Egypt and Sudan affirmed on Monday that their water security constitutes “a single, interconnected and indivisible entity,” announcing their unequivocal rejection of any unilateral actions in the Eastern Nile Basin and warning against Ethiopia’s continued operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without a legally binding agreement.
The position was outlined in a joint statement issued following the third round of consultations under the “2+2” mechanism involving the foreign and irrigation ministers of the two countries. The meeting was hosted by Cairo and attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam, and their Sudanese counterparts, Mohi El-Din Salem and Esmat Qurashi.
The statement stressed the need to defend the water security of Egypt and Sudan, as downstream countries, and to safeguard their water rights and uses under the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement.
The two countries also reaffirmed their rejection of any infringement on these rights and their commitment to the role of the Permanent Joint Technical Commission for Nile Waters in coordinating positions and developing a unified vision on water-related issues.
In a direct message to Addis Ababa, the statement described the Ethiopian dam, which it said had been constructed unilaterally in violation of international law, as an “ongoing threat” to Egypt and Sudan.
The two countries attributed this threat to Ethiopia’s continued unilateral management of the dam and the absence of a legally binding mechanism governing its operation.
Cairo and Khartoum called on Ethiopia to change its unilateral policies and return to cooperation in accordance with the principles of international law, particularly the principles of no harm, prior notification, consultation and consensus.
They emphasized that the dam issue concerns the three countries in the Eastern Nile Basin—Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia—rejecting what they described as Addis Ababa’s attempts to involve the other Nile Basin countries in the matter.
