Egypt Renews Adherence to Nile River Water Rights

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed operates a second turbine at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (ENA)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed operates a second turbine at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (ENA)
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Egypt Renews Adherence to Nile River Water Rights

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed operates a second turbine at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (ENA)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed operates a second turbine at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. (ENA)

Egypt has renewed its “adherence” to its water rights, a few days after Ethiopia announced completing the third filling of its mega dam reservoir and the electricity production from the second turbine without agreement from downstream countries.

Egypt and Sudan demand that Ethiopia halt the construction work at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) until reaching a legally-binding agreement on its filling and operation.

The $4.2-billion dam is ultimately expected to produce more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity, more than doubling Ethiopia's current output.

The reservoir's total capacity is 74 billion cubic meters, and the target for 2021 was to add 13.5 billion, a target Ethiopia said it had met. Both countries argue that GERD will undermine their water resources.

The newly-appointed Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Hani Swailem, said Cairo’s vision is clear and seeks to maintain its water rights, while helping other African countries in general to obtain their rights as well.

In televised statements on Sunday, Swailem slammed Addis Ababa’s unresponsive stance towards Cairo’s call for cooperation, noting that he is determined to change it.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced last week that his country completed the third filling of GERD’s reservoir.

“As you see behind me, the third filling is complete,” Ahmed said from the dam site.

“Compared to last year, we have reached 600 meters, which is 25 meters higher than the previous filling,” Ahmed said Friday.

Ethiopia first began generating electricity from the GERD in February.

On Thursday, it said it had launched electricity production from the second turbine at GERD.

Currently, the two operational turbines, out of a total of 13, have a capacity to generate 750 megawatts of electricity.

Ahmed nevertheless sought to reassure Egypt and Sudan over the impact of the dam.

“When we set out to build a dam on the Nile, we said from the beginning that we did not want to make the river our own,” he said on Twitter.

“We hope that just like Ethiopia, the other gifted nations of the Nile, Sudan and Egypt, will get to utilize their share.”

He also called for negotiations to reach an understanding on the dam but insisted the third filling was not causing any water shortages downstream.

In July, Cairo protested to the United Nations Security Council against Addis Ababa’s plans to fill the GERD reservoir for a third year without agreement from downstream countries.



UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," his spokesperson said on Monday.

"He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations."

Israeli ground troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors.

Deir al-Balah is the only Gaza city that has not seen major ground operations or suffered widespread devastation in 21 months of war, leading to speculation that the Hamas militant group holds large numbers of hostages there. The main group representing hostages’ families said it was “shocked and alarmed” by the incursion, which was confirmed by an Israeli military official, and demanded answers from Israeli leaders.

Israel says the seizure of territory in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages, but it is a major point of contention in ongoing ceasefire talks.

The UN food agency, meanwhile, accused Israeli forces of firing on a crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid over the weekend. Gaza's Health Ministry called it one of the deadliest attacks on aid-seekers in the war that has driven the territory to the brink of famine.