Egypt Revises its Plans to Manage Water Amid Possible Flood Risks

Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)
Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)
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Egypt Revises its Plans to Manage Water Amid Possible Flood Risks

Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)
Egypt’s delegation during the Cairo GERD talks (Egyptian Ministry of Water)

While Egypt is reviewing its plan to manage water amid potential flood risks, the North African nation will participate on Saturday in a new round of talks concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources, Dr. Hani Sweilem, said a new round of Renaissance Dam negotiations will be held in Addis Ababa on December 16, 17, and 18 between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
The talks aim to reach a “legal” agreement over operating the dam following the third round of negotiations that ended in Cairo last October.
In July, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed to initiate urgent negotiations to finalize an agreement between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan on the filling of the GERD and the rules of its operations.
The two leaders said they would make all the necessary efforts to finalize the agreement in four months.
Three rounds of negotiations were held in Cairo and Addis Ababa since then, but failed to achieve any progress.
An earlier statement by Egypt's Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said the “Ethiopian intransigence” was behind the failure of the GERD talks, but expressed hope that Addis Ababa will show political will and seriousness to reach a legally binding agreement to fill and operate the dam.
Egyptian Professor of Public International Law, Secretary General of The International Committee for The Defense of Water resources, Mohamed Mahran told Asharq Al-Awsat that the upcoming negotiations represent a real opportunity to resolve the outstanding differences between the three countries and to reach a legally binding agreement that takes into account the water rights of Egypt and Sudan.
Mahran said the worsening economic crisis in Ethiopia could push Addis Ababa to back down from “its rigid positions towards the Renaissance Dam file.”
But at the same time, he warned against “the escalation of the crisis and failure to reach a solution,” stressing that the negotiations are the last chance to avoid a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.
Egypt and Sudan demand a binding legal agreement regulating the filling and operating of the dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile.
The dam could reduce water supplies to the two countries and cause other environmental and economic damages.
Ethiopia defends its right to development and generates the electricity its people need.
In September, Addis Ababa said it had completed the fourth and final phase of filling a reservoir for its planned massive hydroelectric power plant on the Blue Nile.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Minister of Water Resources, Dr. Hani Sweilem, said on Friday that his ministry is monitoring the spillways of streams and valleys to ensure their readiness to receive flood water.
He said the work is particularly conducted in North and South Sinai, Matrouh, and Upper Egypt, where the spillways and valleys are located.
Egypt’s Ministry of Irrigation has already prepared a plan to manage water in Egypt till the year 2037 with investments of more than $50 million.

 

 



Türkiye Says It Will Intervene Against Any Attempt to Divide Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Says It Will Intervene Against Any Attempt to Divide Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)

Türkiye will directly intervene to stop any attempt to fragment Syria and will prevent any attempts by militants to obtain autonomy after clashes in southern Syria, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday.

His warning against fragmentation, in comments to reporters in Ankara, appeared aimed at Israel as Türkiye considers this to be Israel's ultimate aim in Syria.

Türkiye has condemned Israeli strikes on Damascus last week as an attempt to sabotage Syria's efforts to establish peace and security, and sees clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian Bedouin tribes in the southern province of Sweida as part of an Israeli policy of regional destabilization.

NATO member Türkiye supports Syria's new government and has called for a ceasefire between the Bedouin and Druze fighters.

Fidan said Israel wanted a divided Syria to make the country unstable, weaker and a liability to the region, and added that Kurdish YPG militants were looking to take advantage of the chaos.

"God willing, we will prevent this policy from being realized," he said.

In an apparent reference to the YPG, he said groups in Syria should not see such chaos as a tactical opportunity to achieve autonomy or independence within Syria and that they faced "a big strategic catastrophe".

"This leads nowhere," he said.

Ankara sees the YPG, which spearheads the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, as a terrorist organization, and has carried out several cross-border operations against them.

"We are warning you: no group should engage in acts towards division," Fidan said.

He said many issues could be discussed via diplomacy "but if you go beyond this and seek fragmentation and destabilizing we will consider this a direct threat to our security and intervene."

Fidan said Türkiye would support efforts to secure peace and stability in Syria, and talks on this, but would not let itself be exposed to threats.

Israel did not immediately comment on Fidan's remarks. It said it struck targets in Syria last week to defend the Druze.