Ethiopia: Egypt Intensifies Lobbying African States On 'Water Security', 'Red Sea Stability' As Counter to Ethiopia's Stance

SRA D. Myles Cullen/USAF
Egyptian Army Soldiers (file photo).
22 August 2025
Addis Standard (Addis Ababa)

Addis Abeba — Egypt has launched a new round of diplomatic lobbying across Africa, positioning its outreach as a counterweight to Ethiopia's policies on the Nile.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held phone calls on Thursday with his counterparts in Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia, Egyptian media reported.

In the conversations, Abdelatty "reaffirmed Egypt's categorical rejection of unilateral measures that violate international law in the Eastern Nile Basin," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Egyptian diplomatic push comes despite Ethiopia's repeated assurances and the formal entry into force of the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), a landmark legal instrument governing equitable use of the Nile since October 2024.

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He claimed that "water security is existential for Egypt," asking African partners to back consensus as the only basis for managing transboundary watercourses.

The lobbying comes as Ethiopia prepares to inaugurate the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Cairo has long claimed that Ethiopia's filling and operation of the dam without a "legally binding agreement" undermines its water security.

Abdelatty's push to rally regional support underscores Egypt's bid to frame the issue beyond a bilateral dispute, linking it to international laws and "regional stability."

Alongside the Nile file, Abdelatty also discussed regional developments in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, where he called for intensified consultation "to safeguard stability and support development across the continent."

Egypt firmly opposes both Ethiopia's sovereignty over the GERD and its presence in the Red Sea.

He also offered Egypt's readiness to expand bilateral cooperation, particularly through development funding and programs provided by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD).

Ethiopia continues to position the GERD as a symbol of African-led development and basin-wide solidarity and maintains that Egypt's rejection of the CFA and its ongoing campaign against the GERD risk undermining the cooperative spirit that many other Nile countries have embraced. With the CFA now in force and the GERD nearing full operation, water experts assert that it is time to turn the page on zero-sum narratives and basin states, including Egypt, to align with the legal and political framework built over decades through the Nile Basin Initiative, and to recognize the dam not as a threat, but as an opportunity for shared prosperity. AS

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