Egypt’s top diplomat is in Addis Ababa to discuss controversial Ethiopian plans to build a dam on the Nile that Cairo fears will impact its water supplies.
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s visit to Addis Ababa is “a new Egyptian move aiming to break the deadlock” in talks with Ethiopia and Sudan over the Grand Renaissance Dam.
Cairo fears the 6,000-megawatt dam, being built by Italy’s largest construction firm, Salini Impregilo SpA, and due for completion next year, will reduce the flow it depends on for drinking water and irrigation.
Egyptian officials say safeguarding the country’s quota of Nile water is a matter of national security.
“No one can touch Egypt’s water … (which) means life or death for a population,” President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said last month.
Ethiopia hopes to be able to export electricity generated by the dam, which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa.
The water and agriculture will be one the main conflicts within North Africa states in coming decades.
