In the press conference that was held in PM office this afternoon Ethiopia foreign minister ,Gedeu Andargachew said that Egypt is so eager and rush to sign the draft documents which is formulated and brokered by US and World Bank and Ethiopia need to think twice before dealing with Egypt.
” We will not do nothing that snatches the benefit our country, we understand that Sudan firmly believes the Great Renaissance Dam(GERD) is benefiting her and only Egypt is trying discard our project and need to use the Nile water unilaterally for herself as she has been used it so far centuries. We will continue to construct the dam and fill the water when the time reached but we will parrally continuing the negotiation with Egypt and Sudan on mutulal intestate bases .”
Last Sunday night official statement U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said,“Final testing and filling should not take place without an agreement.” after the latest Washington meeting between the parties on Feb. 27 and 28 which Ethiopia skipped.
“We did not ask America to mediate but they asked us for that.We will not hear nobody that discard our benefits .And we need America to do the right things that benefit all of us . One side solution is not acceptable for us. ” Gedu said .
Seleshe Bekele (Eng.) ,Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy said the dam will start reservation of 4.9 billion qubic meter of water and power generation will start in June or March 2021 .
” Due to the limited capacity of contractors we are not doing the intended job on the turbine and other engineering work. And God COVID 19 virus that erupted in China challenges us to do not import materials for the dam on time. But what we can guarantee to our people is the dam construction and filling water will continue as per our schedule. ”
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that Ethiopia’s ownership GERD does not give it the right to violate legal accords signed willingly, days after the collapse of months-long Washington-mediated talks to resolve the GERD crisis.
In an exclusive interview with state TV, Shoukry said Ethiopia’s ownership of the GERD does not give it the right to unilaterally control the Nile, which he described as the “lifeblood of Egypt since the dawn of time.”