Nile River Conflicts

Since approximately 3000 BCE, the Egyptians have utilized the Nile River in their power expansion. The Egyptians constructed advanced irrigation systems on the Nile and used the river to transport people and goods. The Nile is closely intertwined with ancient Egyptian culture with the god Hapi symbolizing the Nile’s annual flooding.

In 1854, French Diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps convinced the Viceroy of Egypt, Mohamed Said, to allow for constructing a canal that would cut through 100 miles of desert between Africa and Asia. This canal would go on to become the Suez Canal.

Article III of the Anglo-Italian Protocol states that “the Italian government engages not to construct on the Atbara River, in view of irrigation, any work which might sensibly modify its flow into the Nile.” The protocol’s language was too vague to distinguish clear water rights to the Nile, contributing to differing national claims over the Nile’s water.

Article III of the treaty between Great Britain and Ethiopia states, “his Majesty the Emperor Menilik II, King of Kings of Ethiopia, engages himself towards the Government of His Britannic Majesty not to construct or allow to be constructed any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tana, or the Sobat, which would arrest the flow of their waters except in agreement with His Britannic Majesty’s Government and the Government of Sudan.” The goal of the treaty was to distinguish a border between Ethiopia and Sudan. However, the treaty has historically been one of the most contested in Nile water rights agreements.

Article III of the Agreement between Britain and the Government of the Independent State of the Congo states, “the Government of the independent state of the Congo undertakes not to construct, or allow to be constructed, any work over or near the Semliki or Isango river which would diminish the volume of water entering Lake Albert except in agreement with the Sudanese Government.” However, the Congo did not sign the treaty; instead, Belgium signed the treaty on behalf of the Congo. The treaty favored the downstream states on the Nile and restricted the Congo from accessing its Nile territory. 

Article 4(a) of the tripartite Treaty between Britain, France, and Italy states, “To act together… to safeguard; … the interests of Great Britain and Egypt in the Nile Basin, more especially as regards the regulation of the waters of that river and its tributaries (due consideration being paid to local interests) without prejudice to Italian interests.” The treaty denied Ethiopia its sovereign rights to its national water resources. In response, Ethiopia rejected the treaty and does not recognize its validity.

The Sinai and Palestine Campaign led by German-Ottoman forces against the Arab Revolt and the British Empire began with the Suez canal’s January 26th attempted seizure. The Suez Canal was of significant strategic interest to both sides during World War 1, and fighting lasted three years before the German-Ottomans were defeated. Egypt was a protectorate of Britain at the time and thus had the benefit of British troops to aid in the German-Ottoman defeat. The conflict ended with the Armistice of Mudros in October of 1918.

The Agreement between Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan includes clauses that heavily favored Egypt’s rights to the Nile’s water supply. The treaty gave Egypt the right to monitor the flow of the Nile in Upstream Countries, reserve the Nile’s flow during the dry season, undertake Nile River related Projects without the consent of upper riparian states, and gave Egypt the right to veto any construction projects that would adversely affect their national interests.

In 1936, the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty was signed in London and proclaimed Egypt as an independent sovereign state. However, British troops were allowed to continue their stationing at the Suez Canal to protect British financial and strategic interests.

The first battle of El Alamein was an Egyptian battle during the Second World War between Axis and Allied forces and began the Western Desert Campaign. The Axis powers were significantly close to seizing the Suez canal and gaining financial and strategic advantage in North Africa over the allied power. However, the Allied powers overcame the Axis forces, and the Suez canal was never seized.

In October of 1951, Egyptian Prime Minister Nahas Pasha asked the Egyptian parliament to approve the abrogation of the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian treaty. The treaty allowed Britain to keep troops stationed on the Suez Canal.

Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, which invoked conflict between Israel and Egypt (the former with the backing of France and Great Britain). The move to nationalize the canal came from a post-war increase in Egyptian nationalism. Egypt agreed to free navigation of the canal in June of the same year and that British troops would return to the canal if a foreign state threatened it.

In 1958, Egypt held a military expedition in a disputed territory amid ongoing negotiations with Sudan over Nile waters. The expedition was unsuccessful, and a Nile Water Treaty was signed between the two countries a year later when a pro-Egyptian government rose to power in Sudan.

In 1959 Egypt and Sudan signed the Nile Water Agreement that allocated three-quarters of the Nile’s total water volume to Egypt, allowing the state to construct the Aswan Dam. Additionally, the agreement issued a quarter of the water volume to Sudan. According to the agreement, Egypt must consent to other states’ use of the Nile’s water, and as such, a majority of the Nile Basin’s countries have not developed extensive projects on the river. However, the other Nile River basin nations question the legitimacy of the agreement due to many states lacking independence at the time, and Ethiopia does not recognize the agreement at all.

The Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers is an international guideline on regulating rivers that cross national boundaries. The international law association adopted the Helsinki rules in 1966; however, they lack any legal enforcement mechanism. The Helsinki Rules apply to the Nile, which passes through 10 African countries, but the lack of enforcement has proven to make them ineffective in Nile river conflict resolution.

From 1978-1984, Sudan killed protestors of the Jonglei Canal. The canal was a project set in Sudan’s wetlands to increase water supply to Sudan and Egypt to counteract Nile River drying. However, the canal was never completed due to the socio-political unrest it created.

Ethiopia’s proposed construction of dams on the Blue Nile in 1978 was met with backlash from Egypt that feared the dams would threaten their national water supply. Disputes between Egypt and Ethiopia over Nile River water rights continues today, with negotiations ongoing.

In 1979, then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat said, “The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water.” The same message continues today with military intervention remaining a viable option in Egypt-Ethiopia disputes over Nile River water rights.

In 1988, then Egyptian Foreign Minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali predicted that the next war in the Middle East would be fought over water rights to the Nile, not politics. Boutros-Ghali would go on to become the United Nations Secretary-General from 1992-1996.

The Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems was signed between the countries of The Republic of Angola, the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Malawi, the Republic of Mozambique, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of South Africa, the Kingdom of Swaziland, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republic of Zambia and the Republic of Zimbabwe. The protocol aimed to develop “close co-operation for judicious and co-ordinated utilization of the resources of the shared watercourse systems in the SADC region.” The protocol states that countries with a shared water system shall exchange information and data regarding the water’s hydrogeological, quality, meteorological, and ecological conditions. The protocol also states that permits are required to discharge waste into such water systems from relevant state authorities.

The Nile River Cooperative Framework (NRCF) was created in 1997 to promote “integrated management, sustainable development, and harmonious utilization of the water resources of the Basin, as well as their conservation and protection for the benefit of the present and future generation.” The framework envisaged a permanent institution mechanism, the Nile River Commission (NRBC), which would promote and facilitate the implementation of the framework and cooperation between member states.

Referred to as the UN Watercourses Convention, the convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses is an international treaty regarding the use and conservation of all water systems that cross international borders. The goal of the convention was to “ensure the utilization, development, conservation, management, and protection of international watercourses and the promotion of the optimal and sustainable utilization thereof for present and future generations.” The framework calls for watercourse states to behave equitably and reasonably, which includes considering the social and economic needs of watercourse states and existing and potential uses of the watercourse. The convention is regarded as a crucial milestone in establishing international water laws.

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is a partnership between the Nile riparian states of  Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as including Eritrea as an observer. The goal of the NBI is to achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.” 

In 2004, Tanzania planned the construction of the Lake Victoria Pipeline to increase water supply to its 400,000 people in the North-West of the state. In response, Egypt threatened to bomb the construction site to protect its water flow into the Aswan Dam. Egypt enacted the 1929 agreement to restrict Tanzania from blocking the Nile’s waters without British permission.

In April of 2004 Egypt privatized its national water supply. The privatization transformed water utility into corporations that resulted in the doubling of water expenses within months in the capital of Cairo. The increase in cost led to Cairo residents protesting the new water privatization.

The first draft of the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) was created in 2007, however it was not signed for three more years due to disputes between the Niles states regarding prior treaties on the Nile. Disagreements over the draft are considered the beginning of modern tensions between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan over the Nile River water rights.

Protests erupted in the summer of 2007 in Egypt over a lack of water supply for the residents of Brulus on the Nile Delta. The protests became known as the “Revolution of the Thirsty.” The little water supply available to them was reported as being putrid and collected from puddles. Protests blocked the local highway in an attempt to have the Egyptian government solve the water supply issue.

In 2010, Wikileaks released an email that revealed a high-level Egyptian source saying “we are discussing military co-operation with Sudan” against Ethiopia. The email also included plans of establishing a military base in Sudan for Egyptian Special Forces to attack the planned Grand Renaissance Dam from.

In May 2010, Ethiopia announced its intention to build Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile. The announcement caused a massive backlash from Egypt and Sudan and increased tensions between the three states, which continue today.

Then Egyptian Minister of Water and Environmental Resources, Mohamed Nasr Eldin Allam, agreed with Sudan to preserve “the historical rights of both countries to the Nile’s water.” This move primarily comes in response to the announcement of Ethiopia’s intentions to build a hydroelectric dam on the Nile.

In May of 2010, Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak met with Kenya’s leaders and the Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss disputes over the Nile River. The meeting comes after Kenya, and four other African countries agreed to re-examine Nile water-sharing rights. Egypt disagrees with re-examining the 1929 treaty gives them the majority of the Nile’s water rights.

In June of 2010, Egypt officially expressed its grievances to the United Nations and African Union over the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam. Egypt demanded that the dam’s funding be cut off due to its risk to the Egyptian water supply. Following this official grievance, Ethiopia asked Egypt to meet for discussions on cooperation.

In November of 2010, the Grand Renaissance Dam plans were completed; however, international backers required an agreement between Nile Basin nations before funding of the project could begin. The deal, known as the Entebbe Agreement, was signed in the following years.

Conflict in South Sudan dates back to the country’s independence in 2011. The ongoing violence has negatively impacted water infrastructure across the country resulting in widespread national water insecurity.

Revolution broke out in Egypt in January of 2011 over protests against widespread national police brutality. However, water poverty was a decisive factor in the revolution and acted as an agitator for socio-political unrest. At the time, Egypt was in the midst of a water crisis after dropping below the globally accepted “water poverty” line. A year before the revolution, water utility expenses underwent a drastic hike for downtown residents of Cairo.

The Nile River Cooperative Framework (NRCF) came into force as international law when the sixth member state, Burundi, signed the Entebbe Agreement in 2011. The agreement allowed riparian nations to construct dams and other Nile related projects, which contradicted prior colonial agreements. Sudan and Egypt refused to sign the deal, suggesting that the phrasing of Article 14(b) goes against pre-existing water rights. The following month Ethiopia began construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

Since 2011, Ethiopia has been building a large dam to become a regional leader in electricity exportation. However, it is expected that the dam will decrease water flow to Egypt by 25 percent. Considering that rainfall has reduced in the area annually, and global temperatures continue to rise, Egypt needs to secure reliable water resources for their country. The Egyptian government has said that the dam will affect the water supply of nearly 100 million citizens. Egyptian officials have considered military action as recent as 2013.

In May of 2011, Ethiopia announced that it would share its plans for the Grand Renaissance Dam with Egypt in compliance with existing international water laws and hopefully aid in easing tensions between them.

Following Sudan’s independence in 2011, the state sought to join the Nile River Basin (NBI) and was admitted as a member in July 2012, bringing the NBI’s membership up to 10 member states. Currently, the South Sudanese government controls 28% of the Nile’s flow; however, it is expected for this to be renegotiated between South Sudan and Sudan with the help of the NBI.

In September of 2011, Ethiopia suggested a partnership between themselves and Sudan regarding electricity the Grand Renaissance Dam would produce. The electricity supply would greatly benefit Sudan and ease tensions over the dam between the two states.

In 2012, 200 tourists were held captive by Egyptian farmers from the Abu Simbel region to protest the insufficient irrigation water in the area. The majority of irrigation water in Egypt derives from the Nile River. The kidnappers released the tourists after officials agreed to a temporary release of water to the region.

The 2012 Director of National Intelligence report on Global Water Security states that “as water shortages become more acute beyond the next 10 years, water in shared basins will increasingly be used as leverage; the use of water as a weapon or to further terrorist objectives also will become more likely beyond 10 years.” The report went on to say that they expect states to use water projects (such as the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam) to obtain regional influence or preserve their water rights.

In April of 2012, violence broke out in the Jamam refugee camp in South Sudan over shortages in its water supply. Medecins Sans Frontieres reported that approximately ten refugees died every day in refugee camps in South Sudan due to water shortages. The majority of South Sudan’s water is acquired from the Nile River Basin.

Then Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi visited Ethiopia in July of 2012. The trip was monumental in that it was the first time an Egyptian president had visited Ethiopia in 17 years since the attempted assassination of Mubarak’s life. However, negotiations between the two states fell through a few months following the president’s visit.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi visited Bashir, Sudan, in April of 2013 to strengthen ties with the state. In a statement, Morsi said, “Egypt’s ties stumbled in the past, but now we are together, with possibilities of enhancing cooperation that satisfies the interests of all sides.”

In May 2013, Ethiopia temporarily diverged the Blue Nile flow to assist in the next phase of the Renaissance Dam construction. The move prompted former Egyptian President Morsi to suggest that if Egypt’s share of the Nile water supply was diminished by a single drop, “blood” would be the response.

In 2013, a meeting between Egyptian politicians was accidentally televised, where they discussed possible methods for absorbing the shock of the Renaissance Dam. Supporting proxy military groups within Ethiopia in an attempt to destabilize the government was considered.

Negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over Nile River water rights and the Grand Renaissance Dam briefly halted following Morsi’s ousting. However, they resumed again In November 2013.

In December of 2013, former president Bashir of Sudan confirmed to the Ethiopian Prime Minister that the dam would benefit all Nile Basin countries, including Egypt. The announcement went against prior disputes between the three countries over the dam’s construction and was promising for Ethiopia-Sudan relations.

In January of 2014, officials from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan met in Khartoum to begin another round of negotiations regarding Nile River water rights and the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam.

In February of 2014, Egypt’s Irrigation Ministry announced that the negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia had disagreed on Nile River water rights and the Grand Renaissance Dam only a month after they had begun again.

Following Egypt’s request for the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam to stop, Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry refused to halt the construction. In response, Egypt announced that it would be taking the international route to challenge its construction.

In February of 2014, following the failed Khartoum negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over Nile River water rights and the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam, Sudan announced its neutrality in the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia. Many believe Sudan’s neutrality is mostly the energy supply they would receive from the dam.

In March of 2014, following increased tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia over the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, the Ethiopian Irrigation minister denied that military intervention would settle the dispute. The claim comes after years of military intervention remaining a viable option for both states.

In April of 2014, Russia, China, the European Union, Italy, and the IMF stopped their funding of Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam following backlash from Egypt over the dam’s construction. However, the dam continued construction despite the loss of funding.

After negotiations failed in February 2014 at Khartoum, Ethiopian Defense Minister called for Egypt to allow talks to resume in April of the same year to reach an agreement over the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam and Nile River water rights.

In May of 2014, Ethiopia’s Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Adam Mohamed, said that the Ethiopian army is ready to defend against any attack on the Grand Renaissance Dam. The statement was directed towards Egypt, which in the past had discussed possible attacks on the dam to preserve their Nile water supply.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in June of 2014 to discuss their states’ dispute over the construction of the Grand Renaissance dam and Nile River water rights. The meeting was a monumental step towards conflict resolution. However, no agreement was made, and negotiations continue today between the two countries.

A ten-person international commission that included representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan found in their 2014 report that Egypt faces minimal impact from the construction and filling of the Grand Renaissance Dam. This goes against Egypt’s prior claims that the dam would threaten millions of their citizens’ water supply.

In March of 2015, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan signed a preliminary deal regarding Nile River water rights, which allowed Ethiopia to continue the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam. The agreement was designed to pave the way for future cooperation.

According to the United Nations’ 2018 World Water Development Report, Egypt is expected to struggle to fulfill national water supply requirements by 2025. The report also warned that Egypt’s water supply is currently below the UN’s water poverty threshold and is heading towards absolute water scarcity.

In December of 2019, President Trump invited negotiators from Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt to the White House to continue negotiations in hopes that he could aid in negotiation efforts between the three countries. However, the White House held negotiations failed, and Ethiopia pulled out of the talks after feeling they unfairly favored Egypt. 

Following over a dozen cyber attacks by the Egyptian government and the Egyptian hacking group Cyber_Horus Group, Ethiopia announced that it had successfully foiled several other hacking attempts. According to The Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), the foiled hacking attempts were related to Ethiopian economic and political activities.

Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. in July of 2020 showed visible filling of the Grand Renaissance dam. The dam’s filling was ahead of schedule and explained as uncontrollable flooding during Ethiopia’s wet season. However, Egypt negatively responded to the preemptive filling, reigniting tensions between the two countries.

In August of 2020, Egypt withdrew from the latest round of negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam. The withdrawal comes after Addis Ababa proposed a new draft of filling guidelines. The Egyptian Water Ministry said that Ethiopia’s proposed policies lacked regulations or any legal obligations.

Shortly following the failure of negotiations over the Grand Renaissance Dam in early August, talks between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan have restarted to resolve increasing tensions between the states.

On August 18th, Egypt and Ethiopia announced that the latest round of negotiations had reached a stalemate. Both Egyptian and Sudanese Irrigation Ministers said that the three states could not reach a consensus during the talks. Sudanese Water Resources and Irrigation Minister said, “the continuation of negotiations in this current form will not lead to achieving practical results.” It is currently unknown when the next round of negotiations between the three countries will start.

In September 2020, The Trump Administration announced it would be ending its financial aid to Ethiopia over a “lack of progress” in Nile River negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan. The negotiations relate to the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam, which has led to tensions between the three states for nearly a decade. The Trump administration hoped that ending Ethiopian aid would influence the government to make greater compromises in future talks after Ethiopia walked out of negotiations in Washington, DC, in December of 2019.

A day after the Trump Administration announced it would be ending its financial aid to Ethiopia due to a “lack of progress” in negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, the Ethiopian government demanded an explanation. Eyob Tekalign, Ethiopia’s state finance minister, said, “We don’t think that the U.S. has thought this through carefully because the partnership with the U.S. and Ethiopia is solid, very strong and continues to be,” he said. “We consider this a misunderstanding.  We don’t think this will last. We are very hopeful that they will reconsider because Ethiopia is doing what is right in all senses of the word legally, morally as well.”

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki’s visit to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) raised questions about the diplomatic position of Eritrea regarding Egypt’s attempts to galvanize support in the region behind their position in the Nile dam dispute. Eritrea had always backed Egypt in the dispute, but with the president’s visit to the site of the dam it is unclear if that position still stands.

Talks over the construction and operation of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam were set to continue on 27 October 2020 after the African Union had extensive consultations with Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt.

For the first time, Sudan has boycotted talks between Nile Valley countries over Ethiopia’s controversial Nile River dam due to belief that the current approach to reaching an agreement had not yielded results. Sudan’s boycott could derail the negotiations that the African Union had taken a lead role in supporting.

Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi made remarks about the ongoing dam dispute between Nile River countries on an official visit to South Sudan. Al-Sisi expressed that a legally binding agreement must be reached on the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam, and that the Nile River must be a source of cooperation and development for countries in the region.

Egypt has reiterated its support for Sudan following an attack by Ethiopian forces on Sudanese military troops near Sudan’s border during a time of gridlock between the three nations over the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Egypt’s foreign ministry called the attack an “unjustified assault” in a statement.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said it summoned Ethiopia’s top diplomat in Cairo over comments regarding the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The ministry did not cite specific comments but condemned the comments as an “attack on the Egyptian state” and said the official used an “aggressive tone”.

Negotiations between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam could be delayed by the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as the Ethiopian government responds to the crisis. Fighting broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in November of 2020 between the government and the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The conflict threatens to become a regional crisis, as neighboring Eritrea has become heavily involved.

Sudan claimed that an Ethiopian military aircraft breached its border, heightening tensions between the two nations who are both in a territorial dispute and in the process of resolving a Nile River disagreement.

Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry has accused Ethiopia of obstructing the negotiations aiming to reach an agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Sudan’s defense minister Yassin Ibrahim also accused Ethiopia of procrastination on reaching a binding deal on the dam project.

The Biden administration in the United States has reversed a policy implemented by the former Trump administration that froze aid to Ethiopia until an agreement over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was reached with its neighbors Sudan and Egypt. This signals a decided change in U.S. relations with Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s ongoing civil war and border dispute with neighboring Sudan have empowered Egypt to push for more concessions in negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ethiopia’s land dispute with Sudan has pushed Sudan’s government closer to Egypt in the dispute.

Ethiopia has rejected Sudan’s calls for outside mediators to participate in Nile River dam negotiations between the two countries and Egypt, saying that the conflict should be resolved between the three countries themselves.

In what appeared to be a stark warning to Ethiopia who is building the controversial Nile River dam, Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said that Egypt’s share of the Nile River’s waters is “untouchable”. El-Sissi warned of “instability that no one can imagine” if Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was filled and operated without a legally binding agreement.

Ethiopian foreign minister Demeke Mekonnen accused Egypt and Sudan of “exerting unnecessary pressure” on Ethiopia during negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Egyptian minister of water resources and irrigation Mohammed Abdel-Ati said that Ethiopia had rejected all of Egypt’s suggestions in resolving the dispute over the GERD. Abdel-Ati claims that 15 ideas put forth by Egypt were rejected by Ethiopia.

The U.S. envoy for the Horn of Africa has met with the Egyptian president as part of the U.S.’s push to find a resolution for the decade-long dispute over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River. This is due to growing concerns that disagreement over the dam could lead to military conflict, which has the potential to destabilize the entire region.

Egyptian armed forces arrived in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum to participate in a joint military drill as tensions rise with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River. Sudan’s state-owned news agency said that the joint military exercise was aimed at “strengthening bilateral relations and unifying methods on dealing with threats that both countries are expected to face”.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has visited Djibouti as tension mounts between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile River. Egypt hopes to prevent Ethiopia’s neighbor Djibouti from siding with Ethiopia on the issue of the Nile River dam.

Arab states have called on the UN Security Council to discuss the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Ethiopia’s neighbors Egypt and Sudan are concerned over the construction of the dam, as Egypt relies on the Nile for up to 90% of its fresh water, and Sudan is concerned about the operation of its own Nile dams and water stations.

Foreign ministers from an array of Arab countries met in Qatar to discuss a resolution to the Nile Dam conflict between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Egypt’s foreign minister said that Egypt is seeking a diplomatic, not a military, solution to its dispute with Ethiopia over the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is set to begin next month.

Egypt has signed an array of military and economic agreements with the Eastern African nations of Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Djibouti and South Sudan. This can be seen as a move by Egypt to secure regional alliances as Ethiopia unilaterally moves to fill the highly controversial Grand Ethiopian Nile Dam.

An advisory council to the Ethiopian government has asked university leaders and academics from across the globe to reject “outdated and unfair colonial treaties” as a means for settling the ongoing Nile River dam dispute between Ethiopia and its neighbors Egypt and Sudan.

Saudi Arabia has voiced its support for Egypt and Sudan in their ongoing Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute with Ethiopia. Saudi Arabia’s state news agency, SPA, said the county supported Egypt and Sudan in “preserving their legitimate water rights”.

Egypt and Sudan’s foreign ministers appealed to the UN security council to intervene in their ongoing dispute with Ethiopia over the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Tensions have risen since Ethiopia recently began the second phase of filling the dam.

Ethiopia says it has completed the filling of its massive dam on the Nile River, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). This move is likely to anger Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia’s neighbors who see the dam as a threat to their water security.

The dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam remains at a standstill between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. Egypt and Sudan cite Ethiopia’s unwillingness to cooperate and continue negotiations in a timely manner as a reason for the stall.

Ethiopia announces that its construction of the GERD will soon be complete, as Egypt warns of the consequences of not reaching an agreement over the dam.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) expressed its support for Egypt in its ongoing dispute with Ethiopia over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River.

Sudan’s deputy minister Mohamed Hamdan Daglo travels to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa to meet with Ethiopia’s defense minister amid rising tensions over border disputes and the constriction of Ethiopia’s dam on the Nile River.

The 35th African Union (AU) Summit was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and did not tackle the crisis over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a significant source of tension between Ethiopia and its neighbors Sudan and Egypt.

Ethiopia’s former water minister has become a new ambassador to the United States, a move that is seen as countering Egypt’s efforts to win support from the US on the Nile Dam issue.

Ethiopia has revealed plans to export electric power to South Sudan as part of an electrical interconnection deal between the two countries. This comes as negotiations regarding Ethiopia’s Nile Dam continue to falter between Ethiopia and its neighbors Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia announced that it intends to reach a solution with its neighbors Sudan and Egypt regarding its construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, as the planned third filling of the dam inches closer and tensions remain high.