Ethiopia’s ambassador in Cairo, Ambassador Markos Tekle Rike has told the BBC World Service that ministers from the governments of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will meet the first week of the next month of April.
The ambassador said that the governments of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will discuss resolving the dispute over the construction of the Ethiopian dam near the border between Ethiopia and Sudan.
He said in an interview that the three countries had reached an agreement on 80% of the dispute over the Nile’s water share but that the governments of Egypt and Sudan had repeatedly warned of the dangers posed by the dam saying that the lives of their people depend on the Nile River.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s ambassador in Egypt, Ambassador Markos Tekle Rike did not disclose the official site of the meeting and who organized it.
The statement by Ethiopian Ambassador Markos Tekle Rike comes a day after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Said Hussein Khalil El-Sisi warned of dire consequences if Ethiopia’s GERD dam is damaged.
Speaking at a press conference in Ismailia yesterday, the Egyptian president said he would not intimidate anyone, but that no one would be able to take a drop of his country’s water. Egypt’s president has made it clear that Egypt’s share of the Nile River is a red line that cannot be violated.
The dispute over the construction of Ethiopia’s GERD Dam and its share of the Nile River has been simmering for more than 10 years and in principle no formal agreement has been reached.
BY OSMAN HUSSEIN ALI
