Ethiopia Urges Arab League To Leave African Issues For Africans

Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged the Arab League to leave African matters for Africans as the Nile River is an African water resource.

In his weekly media briefing today, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Dina Mufti said internationalizing the issue of GERD is the usual trend of Egypt; but Ethiopia still rejects such tendencies.
“On our side, we have firmly stated that Ethiopia is the source of the Blue Nile. We can utilize the river in a fair and right manner without harming one another,” he added.

According to Ethiopian News agency, the spokesperson noted that there are over 10 Nile basin countries, but the Arab League presents Egypt and Sudan as sole owners of the water. This is a manifestation of unjust position by the Arab League, he underscored.

According to Dina, “the colonial pact which ignored most of the Nile Basin countries cannot be applicable today. No one will accept such a biased agreement in the 21st century.”

He revealed that the Nile River is an existential matter for Ethiopia as well. “Because, over 60 percent of our population is still living in darkness and development is also a matter of existence as it needs energy as well.”

Dialogue and cooperation is the only way to resolve the matter in sustainable manner, the spokesperson stressed, adding that denying the Nile Basin countries and presenting the issue as a matter of only two countries could not resolve the problem.

Moreover, the Nile is an African river and Egypt is an African country and founding member of the then OAU or the present African Union. Similarly Sudan is also a member of the AU, he pointed out.

Dina aptly remarked that “Nile is an African River and the problem is also within Africa. Thus, there is no reason to take the issue to Arab countries. Let them resolve the challenges facing Arab countries and leave African issues for Africans.”