Cairo to Reject Any Agreement that Undermines Its Water Rights

 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 to Reject Any Agreement that Undermines Its Water Rights

 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

One week ahead of an African Union deadline set for Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan as the latest bid to reach an agreement on the mega-dam that Addis Ababa is building, Cairo threatened to thwart any attempt of transgression of its water rights.

“Egypt will never allow any transgression of its rights or accept any deal underestimating its rights or affecting its people’s lives,” Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Atti said Thursday.

He said his country was keen to show goodwill and cooperate with Ethiopia concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), but Ethiopia hampered the course of negotiations.

In an interview with the DMC satellite channel, the Minister said his country is strong and all its agencies are working on the GERD dispute.

“Ethiopia is withdrawing from all agreements reached during trilateral meeting in Washington and clinging to unilateral filling of the dam,” Abdel Atti said.

Previous rounds of negotiations between the three countries, held virtually from 9-17 June, failed to reach an agreement due to Ethiopia's refusal to enter into a legally binding agreement and its announcement that it will begin filling the dam in July even without approval from the two downstream countries.

“Egypt’s annual quota of Nile water is 55.5 billion cubic meters, expounding that filling the dam during periods of dryness will cause a huge crisis,” Abdel Atti said, adding that Cairo wants a written agreement reassuring both Egyptian and Sudanese people over their rights.

The Minister explained that his country always seeks to achieve stability in the region.

“I am looking forward to make use of the African Union intervention to settle the dam crisis,” Abdel Atti said.



Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A building in Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahieh was struck on Sunday almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the area.

The Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, earlier said on X that residents should evacuate several buildings in the Hadath neighborhood and move "at least 300 meters away.”

Residents reported hearing gunfire across the area, which they said they believed was intended to warn people to leave, as well as seeing a massive traffic jam on roads leading from the area.

"To everyone located in the building marked in red on the attached map, and the surrounding buildings: you are near facilities belonging to Hezbollah," Adraee wrote in a post that included a map of the potential targets.

The Israeli army said the building was being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hezbollah.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hezbollah's precision missiles "posed a significant threat to the State of Israel."

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement struck in November, to compel Israel to stop its attacks.
"Israel's continued actions in undermining stability will exacerbate tensions and place the region at real risk, threatening its security and stability," he said in a statement.

Earlier this month an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official, in Beirut's southern suburbs -the second Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital in five days.