The two leaders will discuss bilateral relations and issues related to developments in the Nile Basin and the Horn of Africa region.
Egypt fears the soon-to-be completed dam in Ethiopia could cut into its share of the river, which provides nearly all its freshwater. Eritrea and Ethiopia have long been bitter rivals and went to war in the late 1990s. Ethiopia denies it is cutting into Egypt’s share of the Nile, and has accused Eritrea of training rebels to carry out sabotage attacks on the dam.
Khartoum accuses Cairo of backing rebels in Sudan, a claim denied by Egypt, while Egyptian media criticize Sudanese authorities for supporting a mega Nile project being built by Ethiopia, which Cairo fears it would reduce its Nile water share.
Egypt, with a population roughly equal to Ethiopia’s, receives the lion’s share of the Nile’s waters under agreements from 1929 and 1959 that other Nile nations say are unfair and ignore the needs of their own large and growing populations.
