Batel, the popular dissident campaign, called on the leaders and officers of the Egyptian army to confront General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in order to save the Nile River, after Ethiopia announced the completion of the first phase of the process of filling the Renaissance Dam reservoir.
This came in a message to the leaders and officers of Egypt “after the loss of the Nile.” It asked them to take action “before Egypt gets lost.” “Egypt has become threatened after Ethiopia’s foreign minister announced that the Nile has become an Ethiopian lake with an insulting speech,” Batel said.
The statement denounced al-Sisi’s unilateral signing of the Principles Agreement in 2015, which “enabled Ethiopia to start building the dam, and requested international funding based not only on the absence of the previous refusal of the downstream countries but also Egypt’s recognition that Ethiopia has the right to build the dam in accordance with this agreement.” A few days ago, the opposition campaign called on authorities to withdraw immediately from the Declaration of Principles Agreement, which was concluded by Cairo with Addis Ababa and Khartoum, in 2015. The popular campaign also called on all political forces with different orientations inside and outside Egypt to overcome any differences and unify their position to save the Nile.
The differences between Egypt and Ethiopia are centred on the rules for filling and operating the dam, especially during droughts, and each side’s share of the Nile water. Cairo fears that the dam may negatively affect the flow of its annual share of Nile water, which is 55.5 billion cubic metres, while Ethiopia says it does not aim to harm Egypt or Sudan, but rather to generate electricity from the dam and achieve development.
