Egypt Claims Ethiopia’s Dam Filling Breaches Tripartite Agreement

Egypt declared on Sunday that Ethiopia’s completion of the fourth and final phase of filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reservoir is a violation of a 2015 tripartite agreement, known as the Declaration of Principles. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the milestone on social media X, previously Twitter.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated that the Declaration of Principles mandates a collective agreement on the rules for filling and operating the GERD before the actual process begins. It emphasized that Ethiopia’s unilateral actions jeopardize the water security of downstream countries Egypt and Sudan, contravening international law.

The ministry also pointed out that Ethiopia’s decision will complicate ongoing negotiations, scheduled to last four months. On August 28, Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation noted that the latest round of GERD discussions in Cairo had yielded no substantial results. Ethiopia began the dam’s construction in 2011 and initiated the filling in 2020, despite opposition from Egypt and Sudan, causing the suspension of tripartite talks last year.