CAIRO – Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia are mounting as Addis Ababa gets closer to diverting water to a major hydroelectric project on the Nile, which has been at the center of a decade-long dispute over who controls Africa’s longest river.
Talks between officials from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, hosted by the Democratic Republic of Congo, ended without a deal on Tuesday, sparking another round of heated rhetoric between the two countries.
The Egyptian president hinted at the possibility of a conflict with Ethiopia on Wednesday, but said he preferred cooperation in this area.
“I say to our brothers in Ethiopia, don’t touch a drop of Egyptian water, because all options are open,” President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said at a conference in Cairo.
Addis Ababa began construction of the $ 4.8 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in 2011, part of what the government says is a pivotal development project that will provide electricity to tens of millions of people who currently rely on firewood as their main fuel source.