Egypt has warned against the construction of new Ethiopian dams on the Nile River, with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Wednesday saying Cairo has the right to defend its water security, multiple media outlets reported.
“Egypt will not allow additional dams to be built on the Nile,” Abdelatty said in an interview with Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya.
He said Egypt has a “legitimate right to defend its interests and water security.”
The remarks marked Cairo’s third public warning in about two weeks over reported Ethiopian plans to build additional dams on the river.
Ethiopia did not immediately respond to Abdelatty’s remarks.
Cairo says it has tools to defend Nile interests, and on 16 August an Egyptian official said Cairo would not accept or allow any party to control Nile water flows to downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
The official was responding to remarks attributed to Ethiopian Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Itefa about building additional dams.
The official, cited by Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency, said Cairo had “multiple and wide-ranging tools” to defend its interests in the Nile.
The official said Egypt would not allow control over water flows to be imposed as a fait accompli.
Earlier, on 4 August, Irrigation Minister Hani Sewilam said Egypt would not allow Ethiopia to build new dams on the Nile following reports that Addis Ababa was planning three additional projects alongside the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
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