This archive report was first published on 15 June 2020.
Published on June 15, 2020, talks over the Nile waters resumed on June 10, with Egypt continuing to defend its objections to Ethiopia's plan to start filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in July.
Egyptian ambassador to Kenya, Khaled ElAbyad, warned that the impact of the water shortages in Egypt caused by the dam project could be catastrophic, with millions of jobs at risk, thousands of hectares of arable land disappearing, and a dramatic increase in food imports.
“Millions of jobs will be lost, thousands of hectares of arable land would disappear, cultivated land would experience salinisation, the cost of food imports would increase dramatically, and urbanisation will sky-rocket due to rural depopulation, which will lead to an increase in unemployment, crime rates and transnational migration,” said Mr ElAbyad.
The ambassador expressed concerns that the mega project is being constructed without any studies on its socio-economic impact and without the environmental impact assessment.
Despite ongoing talks, Egypt insists on adhering to the Washington talks on filling and operating rules for the mega project, as well as to the declaration of principles signed between the three countries in 2015.
