Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday expressed appreciation for his US counterpart Donald Trump after the latter said that Egypt had been “very unfairly treated” in its dispute with Ethiopia over the latter’s Great Renaissance Dam on the Nile River.
“I cannot overemphasise how much respect I have for you for your understanding of the challenging issue of the dam,” Sisi told Trump as they met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the French resort town of Evian.
Trump said on Wednesday that the dam had caused “tremendous problems for Egypt”.
“We’ll be discussing the Nile because the Nile is getting a little emptier than it should be, and that’s what we’re here to talk about,” the US president said.
He added that during his first term, he had tried to resolve the dispute but blamed the Biden administration for neglecting it.
“I had that deal settled,” he said. “But we’ll get back into it. We’ll see if we can settle it up,” Trump said.
Egypt fears that the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) could dry up the flow of life-giving water to its territory and expose its population to drought and famine.
Some 80% of the water of the Nile originates in Ethiopian territory.
Ethiopia has said that the dam is focused on electricity generation and economic development, but the two countries and their neighbour Sudan have never agreed on water distribution rights, with Egypt refusing to countenance any agreement that would reduce its share.
Ethiopia has also rejected Egypt’s proposal for a legally binding agreement that would govern how its dam is filled and operated in a way that would guarantee Egypt’s water supply.
Last October, Egypt accused Ethiopia of creating a “flood” by filling the dam too quickly, saying that this threatened the lives and livelihoods of Egyptians and Sudanese.
In March, Egypt expressed outrage as Ethiopia said it was planning three more dams on the Nile.
Sisi also praised the recently reached memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, while Trump caused a stir by saying that Sisi “was in a hotel and I met him, and we fell deeply in love”.
