Egypt Rules Out War with Ethiopia Over Nile River Hydropower Dam

Egypt has no plans to go to war with Ethiopia over the Horn of Africa nation’s construction of a hydropower dam on the Nile River, said Mona Omar, special envoy for Interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour.

Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told supporters last month his government will “defend each drop of Nile water with our blood.” Morsi, overthrown by the army on July 3, had a failed foreign policy and Egypt plans to negotiate with Ethiopia about the dam, Omar told reporters today in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

“We cannot go to war with any African country,” she said on Friday. “When you differ in opinion it doesn’t mean you will go to war.”

Ethiopia is building a $4.3 billion, 6,000-megawatt hydropower plant on the Blue Nile River, the main tributary of the Nile River that provides Egypt with most of its water. The dam, to be completed by 2017, has raised concerns in Egypt that it will cut supplies of water allocated by accords put in place more than five decades ago.

The project, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, is set to be Africa’s biggest hydropower plant when it is built.

Source: Bloomberg