CAIRO — Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry recently spoke about the government’s ability to overcome the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without damaging Egyptian water security. At the same time, however, his Foreign Ministry and the Egyptian Water Resources Ministry warned about the dangers of Ethiopia’s unilateral measures and the filling of the reservoir. These conflicting statements raised several questions about how to deal with the second filling of the hydroelectric dam in such a way as to cause the least possible harm to Egypt's water resources.

In televised statements made May 19 on the sidelines of a Paris conference to drum up international investment for Sudan, Shoukry reassured the Egyptian public about the second filling of the dam.

“We have confidence that we can deal with the second filling by adopting tight measures in managing our water resources,” he said.

Shoukry’s statements — hailed by Ethiopia — raised many questions about the second filling of the dam and its threat to the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan, which had escalated their political and diplomatic efforts after negotiations with Ethiopia collapsed and no binding agreement was reached on the dam. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had even warned of the risk of conflict in facing any action that would affect Egyptian water security.