Ethiopia Reiterates No Harm to Lower Riparian Countries Policy
Addis Ababa,July 22/2021(ENA) Ethiopia has reiterated its ‘no harm policy’ on the lower riparian countries with regard to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
In his briefing to the media today, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Dina Mufti said Ethiopia still believes that the GERD will benefit not only Ethiopia but also the lower riparian countries.
The spokesperson noted that Ethiopians are celebrating the second round filling of the dam not because they filled the dam but because the completion of filling ahead of the scheduled time shows to the world that truth has prevailed.
Regarding Ethiopia’s policy on fair utilization of the Nile River and the GERD, Dina said “We still would like to reiterate and emphasize our previous positions of no harm policy.”
The truth is that the filling of the dam would not significantly harm the downstream countries, he noted, further stating that neither Egypt nor Sudan has suffered because of it. Instead Ethiopia believes that the filling has saved Sudan from excessive flooding.
“We still insist for win-win positions with the lower riparian countries and we urge the riparian countries to come to the round table and negotiate earnestly and faithfully,” the spokesperson stressed.
Asked about the resumption of the tripartite negotiations, Dina said: “We do not have any hesitation and will discuss earnestly as soon as the Congolese call us to the negotiation table.”
He added, “ Had Egypt and Sudan negotiated in good faith, we would have reached a win-win agreement long time ago.”
Meanwhile, the spokesperson stated that more than 41, 000 Ethiopian citizens have returned home from Saudi Arabia during the past few weeks.
“We have repatriated more than 41, 000 citizens which is more than the number that we planned to repatriate.”
The governments of Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia are having series of discussions about the protection of the rights of the remaining Ethiopian citizens in the country.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency