Egypt Reiterates Call for a Legally-binding Agreement on GERD

Satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (AFP)
Satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (AFP)
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Egypt Reiterates Call for a Legally-binding Agreement on GERD

Satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (AFP)
Satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (AFP)

Egypt said that it is cautiously monitoring the steps Ethiopia is taking on the mega-dam it is building on the Blue Nile, warning against “harming its water interests.”

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly reiterated his country’s demand that Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan reach a legally-binding agreement to fill and operate the dam.

The dispute was sparked in 2011 when Addis Ababa began constructing the mega dam on the Blue Nile.

Egypt and 10 other downstream countries share the Nile basin, yet more than 85 percent of its share comes from the Blue Nile tributary in Ethiopia.

For nearly a decade, the African Union-sponsored talks between Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum over its operation and filling have faltered.

According to official statements, Ethiopia prepares to celebrate the operation of its first tribune to produce 700 megawatts of electricity through the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Observers said this step has a “political significance” rather than its actual return, as it represents an Ethiopian approach to taking “unilateral” steps.

In response to a question on the extent of the damage caused by Ethiopia’s move to Egypt, Madbouly said his country is following the issue via all possible diplomatic and political means.

In remarks to BBC, the Premier affirmed that Egypt is not against development anywhere in the Nile basin but will not accept actions taken by Ethiopia that could restrict its access to the Nile’s water.

“We must hold talks to reach an agreement that will benefit our peoples,” he said, noting that it is not in the interest of the three countries to have a dispute over a natural resource.

In mid-September, the UN Security Council called on the three countries to resume negotiations under the auspices of the AU, stressing the need to reach a “binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD” within a reasonable timetable.



Syria Detains Damascus-Based Leader of Prominent Palestinian Faction

Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)
Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)
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Syria Detains Damascus-Based Leader of Prominent Palestinian Faction

Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)
Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)

Syria on Saturday detained a prominent Damascus-based Palestinian official whose group was close to the government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

Talal Naji, 79, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, or PFLP-GC, was detained Saturday morning shortly after he left his house with a driver and two guards, a Palestinian official told The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, added that shortly after Naji was detained near his home in the Mazze neighborhood, security officials came to his home and questioned two unarmed guards for about an hour.

A Syrian government official told the AP that Naji was taken for questioning and should be released later. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The PFLP-GC became known for dramatic attacks against Israel, including the hijacking an El Al jetliner in 1968 and the machine gunning of another airliner at Zurich airport in 1969. In 1970, it planted a bomb on a Swissair jet that blew up on a flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv, killing all 47 on aboard.

Naji’s arrest comes nearly two weeks after Syrian authorities detained two members of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. The group identified the two officials arrested at the time as its leader in Syria Khaled Khaled and another senior official Yasser Zafari. The Islamic Jihad took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Under Assad, several Palestinians factions were based in Syria and some of them remained after the fall of his 54-year Assad family in December.