Egypt Rejects Any Measure that Violates its Nile Water Rights

Egypt’s Sisi and Chairperson of the African Union Commission hold talks in Cairo. (Egyptian presidential spokesman)
Egypt’s Sisi and Chairperson of the African Union Commission hold talks in Cairo. (Egyptian presidential spokesman)
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Egypt Rejects Any Measure that Violates its Nile Water Rights

Egypt’s Sisi and Chairperson of the African Union Commission hold talks in Cairo. (Egyptian presidential spokesman)
Egypt’s Sisi and Chairperson of the African Union Commission hold talks in Cairo. (Egyptian presidential spokesman)

Egyptian President has stressed his country’s commitment to reaching comprehensive, binding and legal agreement on regulating the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (GERD)

During a meeting with Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission Moussa Faki in Cairo, he reiterated his rejection of any measure or action that would violate Egypt’s rights to Nile waters.

Sisi received Faki on Sunday days before a scheduled AU summit.

Faki, for his part, praised Egypt’s efforts, stressing the importance of continuing intense coordination to resolve the dam dispute and reaching a fair and balanced agreement.

According to presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady, the officials discussed several political developments and various conflicts in Africa, including the situation in the Horn of Africa and Libya.

Sisi said Cairo “has not (and will not) spare any effort to support its African brothers and will always seek cooperation, construction and development for the sake of all African countries.”

Development in Africa begins first with promoting stability and establishing an integrated infrastructure that forms a base, which allows linking African countries together, thus promoting the desired goal of economic and regional integration, a presidency statement read.

It quoted Faki as highlighting Cairo’s role and influence under Sisi in the continent, saying the AU Looks up to it as a “strong pillar of joint African action.”

He expressed confidence that Egypt “will continue to promote development efforts in Africa and maintain security and political stability in the continent.”

For nearly a decade, the AU-sponsored talks between Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum over the operation and filling of the mega-dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile have faltered.

Egypt and Sudan fear the dam will affect their shares of the Nile waters and stress the need to reach a binding agreement that guarantees the rights and interests of the three countries, and includes a mechanism for settling disputes. Ethiopia, however, rejects “restricting its rights to use its water resources.”

The 38th two-day ordinary session of the AU’s Executive Council at the ministerial level is scheduled to be held via videoconference on Feb. 3. The 34th two-day ordinary session of the AU’s Assembly of the Heads of State and Government is scheduled for Feb. 6.



US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The United States will keep backing Syria’s government and has no “Plan B” to working with it to unite the war‑scarred country back together, still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence, US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrack – Washington’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who is also on a short assignment in Lebanon – called last week’s Israeli strikes inside Syria “badly timed” and said they had “complicated efforts to stabilize the region.”

Barrack spoke in Beirut after more than a week of clashes in Sweida province between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes.

Over the weekend he brokered what he described as a limited ceasefire between Syria and Israel, aimed only at halting the fighting in Sweida. Syrian government troops have since redeployed in the area and evacuated civilians from both communities on Monday, he said.

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States’ responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the violence in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address broader issues including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to reach agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

Later Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that Israel’s strikes “were the only way to stop the massacre of the Druze in Syria, the brothers of our brothers the Israeli Druze”.

Katz added: “Anyone who criticizes the attacks is unaware of the facts,” he continued. It was not clear if he was responding to Barrack’s comments.

Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement an agreement that would merge the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.