Ethiopia rejects Arab League call for UN to intervene on Nile dam
Ethiopia plans to fill the dam's reservoir again this summer despite Egypt's objections.
Ethiopia’s government rejected a resolution passed yesterday by the Arab League inviting the United Nations Security Council to help resolve the regional tensions over Addis Ababa’s Nile dam project.
“The Arab League of States should know that utilization of the Nile waters is also an existential matter for Ethiopia,” the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It is about lifting millions of its people out of abject poverty and meeting their energy, water and food security needs.”
The ministry said the dam is part of Ethiopia’s “legitimate right to use its water resources in full respect of international law and the principle of causing no significant harm.”
Egypt’s government sent a 95-page letter last week to the UN Security Council detailing the history of the dispute and again calling on the international community to help reach a peaceful settlement.
