War could be an option to preserve Egypt’s water security, according to former minister of water resources and irrigation Mohamed Nasr El-Din Allam.
Allam added that despite Ethiopian propaganda, Addis Ababa has failed in raising its controversial dam to the planned height.
Late on Monday, Ethiopia officially notified Egypt that it has started the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It is a move that Egypt considered as a violation to international laws governing transboundary rivers.
Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said, “Ethiopia’s move reveals bad intentions and the desire to impose a fait accompli on downstream countries, threatening regional and international security.”
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation’s response to the Ethiopian side and to the Head of the UN Security Council for consideration at the council’s Thursday meeting.
Allam told Daily News Egypt that the second filling of the GERD will not succeed in achieving its objectives after the failure in filling the reservoir with the planned 13 billion cbm of water.
He added that, despite the latest Ethiopian action having no impact on Egypt, Addis Ababa aims to use the second filling for interior political purposes and electoral reasons. It also aims to put pressure on the Egyptian Government, by spreading rumours across the country on the dam’s impacts and imposing the Ethiopian will on Egypt.
The former minister explained that Ethiopia continues its provocative policies and populist rhetoric, both through filling the dam and with its speeches about its military capabilities. However, the Ethiopian Government has ignored its defeats in the northern Tigray region, and the intervention of the UN Security Council, as well as international powers, to prevent the collapse of the state.
