Cairo Seeking Binding Legal Agreement to Avoid Negative Impact of GERD

Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)
Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)
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Cairo Seeking Binding Legal Agreement to Avoid Negative Impact of GERD

Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)
Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)

Egypt has been seeking to push Ethiopia to conclude a binding legal agreement that spares it the potential negative impact of the mega dam, which Addis Ababa is constructing on the Nile River.

Cairo fears the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) would affect the flow of its annual share of the Nile’s 55.5 billion cubic meters of water especially that it relies on it for more than 90 percent of its water supplies.

In a phone conversation with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi stressed his country’s firm position on formulating a binding legal agreement that preserves Egyptian water rights and includes Sudan, Ethiopia, and Egypt.

The agreement shall define the rules for filling and operating the dam while preserving Cairo’s water rights, he noted.

The African Union has been sponsoring talks among Cairo, Addis Ababa, and Khartoum since July and attended by observers from the United States and the European Union.

For nearly a decade, talks over the operation and filling of the mega-dam have faltered.

The latest GERD meeting was held on Nov. 21 between Egypt and Ethiopia’s irrigation ministers. Sudan boycotted the talks, calling on the AU to change the negotiation’s approach and expand the role of experts.

The ministers agreed to prepare separate reports, including their countries’ visions to advance the negotiations, and send them to South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Dr. Naledi Pandor.

According to Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady, Sisi received a phone call from Ramaphosa during which both sides discussed and exchanged views on the issue.

Ramaphosa praised Egypt’s efforts to reach a solution on this vital issue and called for coordination during the coming period to work on reaching a fair and balanced agreement.

South Africa’s term ends at the end of 2020 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will take over the AU presidency in 2021.

On Saturday, Sisi also held a phone conversation with his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi during which they discussed regional and continental issues of mutual interest.



Fire at a Telecom Company in Cairo Injures 14 and Temporarily Disrupts Service

 Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Fire at a Telecom Company in Cairo Injures 14 and Temporarily Disrupts Service

 Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after a fire erupted in a telecommunications building in the Ramses district of downtown Cairo, Egypt July 7, 2025. (Reuters)

A fire engulfed the main telecom company building in downtown Cairo on Monday, injuring at least 14 people and prompting a temporary outage of internet and mobile phone services, officials said.

The 14 injured were taken to nearby hospitals, the Health Ministry said in a statement. A witness told news broadcaster Cairo 24 that two emergency responders suffered burns on their hands.

The fire started on the seventh floor of a landmark 10-story Telecom Egypt building in the Ramses area of Cairo, the governor's office said in a statement.

Ambulances and firetrucks were on site as plumes of dark smoke rose in the downtown. Firefighters put up ladders as firetrucks spewed water to contain the blaze, while security officials cordoned off the area.

The fire broke in an equipment room of Telecom Egypt and led to a temporary disruption of telecom services, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement. Telecom services were expected to be restored within hours, the authority said. Online payment services were also disrupted.

NetBlocks, a global internet monitor said on X that network data show national connectivity was at 62% of ordinary levels amid reports of the fire at the telecoms datacenter in Cairo.