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Egypt, Ethiopia Agree to Resume Nahdha Dam Negotiations Within Two Weeks

Egypt, Ethiopia Agree to Resume Nahdha Dam Negotiations Within Two Weeks
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Egypt, Ethiopia Agree to Resume Nahdha Dam Negotiations Within Two Weeks

Egypt, Ethiopia Agree to Resume Nahdha Dam Negotiations Within Two Weeks

Egypt and Ethiopia have agreed to resume negotiations over the Nahda Dam within the next two weeks, hoping to reach consensus on points of contention in an introductory report presented by a French advisory office.

The report focuses on the effects of the Ethiopian dam on the river’s streams (Egypt and Sudan).

Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said he and his Ethiopian counterpart, Abiy Ahmed, agreed “to start bilateral discussions in the next two weeks to reach consensus on unsettled points.”

Ethiopia has been building the dam on one of the main reaches of the Nile to supply its territories with electricity.

Egypt fears the dam will restrict the waters coming down from Ethiopia's highlands, through the deserts of Sudan, to its fields and reservoirs.

Ethiopia, which wants to become Africa's biggest power exporter, says it will have no such impact.

Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan have been carrying out a series of technical and political negotiations for years, but they have failed to find a decisive consensus so far.

Madbouly met on Sunday with Ahmed on the sidelines of the 11th African Union Extraordinary Summit in Addis Ababa.

He conveyed a message from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on means of developing bilateral relations to the level of integrated partnership and activating mechanisms to achieve this, according to a statement by the Egyptian Cabinet.

During his participation in the meetings on behalf of Sisi, Madbouly said he agreed with his Ethiopian counterpart on establishing a trilateral Egyptian, Sudanese and Ethiopian fund via a meeting among the governors of the central banks of the three countries to finalize the agreement.

He noted his country's readiness to exchange expertise in the field of constructing new cities and roads in Ethiopia in light of the development plan adopted by Addis Ababa.

Abiy, for his part, stressed his personal concern with preserving the rights of Egypt and all the African countries associated with the Nile River, noting that both sides agreed during their meeting to start bilateral negotiations within the next two weeks to reach an agreement.

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Arab World

Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory."
The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the US and Europe, The Associated Press said.
The concert organized by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organization founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar Assad.
Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout — a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 — played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.
Many opponents of Assad's rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.
In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”
One of Maasarani's best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.
“You free soldier, the Syrian eminence appears in his eyes, he refused to fire at his people, he refused the shame of the traitor army, long live you free army, protect my people and the revolutionaries,” the lyrics read.
Another banner in the audience read, “It is the revolution of the people and the people never fail.”
Between performances, Raed Saleh, the head of the civil defense organization known as the White Helmets, addressed the crowd, saying, “With this victory, we should not forget the families who never found their children in the prisons and detention centers.”
Thousands were tortured or disappeared under Assad’s government. After the fall of Assad, the White Helmets helped in the search for the missing.
After the concert, Maasarani told The Associated Press, “It’s like a dream” to return to Syria and perform his revolutionary songs.
“We were always singing them outside of Syria, experiencing the happy and sad moments from afar,” he said, adding that his role was to capture the atrocities on the ground through song, ensuring “they would be remembered in history.” He reflected on his years in exile and recalled surviving two assassination attempts before leaving Syria.
“We have not seen this state without Assad since I was born,” said Alaa Maham, a concert attendee who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I cannot describe my feelings, I hope our happiness lasts.”
The future of Syria is still unclear, as the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now the de facto ruling party, begins to form a new government and rebuild the country's institutions.
Whatever comes next, Maham said, “We got rid of the oppression and corruption with the fall of Assad and his family’s rule."