Official: UNSC will not interfere in Ethiopia dam issue

A UN official has said that he was disappointed because the UN Security Council is not ready to help ease tensions over Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam, the New Khaleej news site reported yesterday.

The UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation and Professor of Peace and Conflict at the Swiss university of Uppsala, Ashok Sawin, said: “It is not possible that the UN Security Council would accept Egypt’s request to mediate.”

He added: “It is not possible that all the permanent members would agree to mediate in this crisis.”

“Any unilateral action by Ethiopia will result in a high conflict situation with Egypt & can also deteriorate its relations with Sudan,” he warned.

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Ethiopia threatens to fill Nile dam without a deal & Egypt has gone to UN. As no hope from Security Council, I caution “Any unilateral action by Ethiopia will result in a high conflict situation with Egypt & can also deteriorate its relations with Sudan.”
https://t.co/5CrsJS0kEY pic.twitter.com/PWeKIVyqNT

— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) June 22, 2020

Egypt, which is almost entirely reliant on the Nile for agriculture and drinking water, fears the filling process will significantly reduce the flow of Nile water, while Ethiopia has dismissed Cairo’s concerns and says the project is key to its own development efforts.

READ: Egypt, the Renaissance Dam and the UN Security Council