By William Madouk
The Ethiopian government is dismayed by Arab League’s resolution regarding the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
A statement released by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia said that “the management and utilization of the Nile River, including the filling and operation of the GERD, must be left to the concerned parties in Africa.”
“We should remind the league that Nile River and all riparian countries are found in Africa,” added the statement seen by No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper.
Ethiopian government accused the Arab League of serving ‘as the spokesperson of one state’ as well as describe the league of ‘disregarding basic principles of international law.’
“Such attempts to politicize the issue of GERD neither advance friendly relations nor support the efforts to arrive at amicable solutions, as they are not based on facts or supported by law,” the statement stressed.
Addis-Ababa Foreign ministry stated that African Union has been facilitating the trilateral talks between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt to resolve outstanding issues through ‘African solution to African problems.’
“The fact is that Egypt with its obdurate stance to maintain a colonial era-based self-proclaimed water allocation and its unending attempt to internationalize the matter is the reason to delay of the negotiation,” foreign affairs spokesman claimed.
On March 9, the Arab League’s foreign ministers’ council issued a resolution calling on Ethiopia to show flexibility on filling and operation of the GERD.
This comes after the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry allegedly asked Arab nations to pressure Ethiopia to halt its “unilateral and uncooperative practices” according to media reports.
Expressing its commitment to resolve the remaining outstanding issues under the AU-led negotiations, Ethiopia said “the League’s resolutions and statements by Egypt call into question whether Egypt has been engaged in good faith in the negotiations under the AU’s auspices”
Ethiopia government reiterated that it will continue to fill and operate the GERD in accordance with the Agreement on the Declaration of Principles of March 2015 signed between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, with full respect to the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization of transboundary water resources.
In August 2022, Ethiopia announced the successful completion of the third-round water filling of the dam and started power generation by a second turbine with the capacity to generate 270 MW electricity.