CAIRO, Egypt — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Monday criticized Ethiopia’s handling of the Grand Renaissance Dam during Cairo Water Week’s opening ceremony.
He accused Ethiopia of mismanaging the Nile’s water flow, saying its unilateral actions caused harm to downstream nations Egypt and Sudan without prior coordination.
El-Sisi called on the international and African communities to intervene and push for a binding agreement regulating the dam’s operation during drought and flood.
“International rivers aren’t boundaries,” El-Sisi said. “They are lifelines for cooperation. No country can claim exclusive control over shared waters like the Nile.”
He said Egypt spent 14 years negotiating with Ethiopia in good faith, proposing technical solutions that balance development needs and downstream water rights.
Those efforts, he added, were repeatedly met with intransigence and unilateral actions that ignored Egypt’s concerns and international norms on shared water management.
El-Sisi warned Egypt won’t tolerate threats to its water security and will take necessary steps to safeguard its people and national interests.
He reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to diplomacy, noting efforts through the United Nations and climate summits to raise global awareness about Nile water issues.
Ethiopia views the dam as essential for development. Egypt fears it could severely reduce the Nile’s flow, impacting agriculture and drinking water.
The dam dispute remains one of the most pressing geopolitical challenges in Africa, with regional stability hinging on cooperative water-sharing solutions.