Ethiopia dam continues to stir diplomatic rift

Egypt said it will move to internationally publicize the case of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, given the damage that will incur from the implementation of the project on the Nile river, the privately-owned Al-Shorouk daily reported.

Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources spokesperson Khaled Wassef said that the government will take the international route to challenge the establishment of the dam, since its setting has technical glitches that could be threatening to the area.

Wassef spoke to the television show Al-Hadath Al-Masry, explaining that Egypt is in a strong position. Meanwhile, an Egyptian official told Al-Shorouk that Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Moteleb's last visit to Ethiopia was "the last chapter that set Egypt's position toward starting to find alternative scenarios to challenge the dam's construction, dry funding sources, as well as financial and technical international support to Ethiopia to lower the possibilities of setting the dam."

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that Egypt was hoping to find a solution, but the Ethiopians were refusing to change their position. The statement indicated the renewal of the crisis caused by the dam project, following diplomatic efforts to restore relations.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom told reporters on Wednesday that Ethiopia is set to move on with the project, regardless of the results of a study expected to come out in May by a team of ten experts on the impact of the dam on the Nile river.

Tedros was quoted by the Ethiopian portal The Reporter as saying that his government may accommodate certain adjustments following the findings of the report, but the construction will continue.

Meanwhile, Tedros said that a public diplomacy mission is expected to be dispatched to Egypt.

However, in a strongly worded editorial by the same portal, Ethiopia criticized Egypt for its position. "Ever since Ethiopia announced plans to build the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and commenced construction works, Egyptian officials have been displaying naked hostility to the project."

"Realizing that their incessant attempts to bully Ethiopia into halting the project are futile, they have changed tack and are now resorting to skullduggery. Ethiopia must act prudently to unravel the web of conspiracy that the Egyptian authorities are weaving," the editorial continued.

The Ethiopia dam is considered a high profile national project for the country that is expected to produce 6000 megawatts of power.