Cairo Accuses Addis Ababa of ‘Intransigence’ in GERD Talks

Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo
Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo
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Cairo Accuses Addis Ababa of ‘Intransigence’ in GERD Talks

Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo
Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the Nile. Reuters file photo

Egypt has once again held Addis Ababa responsible for the stalled talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which it is constructing on the Nile River.

Egyptian Minister of Water Resources Mohamed Abdel Aty criticized on Sunday Ethiopia’s ongoing “intransigence” on GERD.

During the parliament’s plenary session, Abdel Aty stressed that the dam dispute concerns the Egyptian state and all its institutions.

The minister said the dispute has taken two courses of negotiations. The first was mediated by the US and the World Bank in early 2020, and the second by the African Union, which has been sponsoring talks between Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa since July 2020, despite lack of progress.

Addis Ababa has earlier withdrawn from the US negotiations, Abdel Aty noted.

He pointed out that his country has responded to Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s initiative and many tripartite meetings have been held. However, they did not lead to any outcome due to Ethiopia’s intransigence on technical and legal issues.

Abdel Aty revealed that Addis Ababa withdrew from all the agreements reached between the three sides, but that Egypt, along with all its institutions, remained in the talks to resolve the crisis.

The Egyptian minister highlighted his country’s water challenges, indicating that Cairo is working to confront them through several means and a national strategic plan.

“The state is making great efforts to maximize and develop its water resources via national plans that aim to take advantage of the available resources, rationalize their use, maximize their returns and raise their efficiency.”

It is using modern technologies to manage the Nile waters, he explained.

It is also developing and modernizing the irrigation system in agriculture to increase produce, Abdel Aty noted.

Cairo and Khartoum stress the need to reach a binding agreement that guarantees the rights and interests of the three countries, and include a mechanism for settling disputes filling and operation of the dam.

They fear the potential negative impact of GERD on the flow of their annual share of the Nile’s 55.5 billion cubic meters of water.



Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
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Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday met for a second time in two days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Gaza as Trump's Middle East envoy said Israel and Hamas were closing their differences on a ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu arrived at the White House shortly before 5 p.m. EDT for a meeting that was not expected to be open to the press. The two men met for several hours during a dinner at the White House on Monday during the Israeli leader's third US visit since the president began his second term on January 20.

Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol on Tuesday. He told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.

"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu's return to the White House to see Trump on Tuesday pushed back his meeting with US Senate leaders to Wednesday.

Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week.

"We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we'll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump's Cabinet.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

Trump had strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.

In his remarks to reporters at the US Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump, saying there has never been closer coordination between the US and Israel in his country's history.