Egypt’s FM Sameh Shoukry declared that UN Security Council avoided condemning the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam due to the complicated political considerations of the council’s members.
Shoukry, in his first statements after the UN Security Council’s urgent session last Thursday, said that Egypt will express its frustration to the members at the council’s response to the Ethiopian unilateral second filling.
Shoukry added that Ethiopia claims grievance in this crisis, explaining that Cairo and Khartoum want time-limited negotiations to solve the crisis with a quartet mediation includes USA, the European Union, the United Nations, and the African Union, that could propose solutions of the dispute.
Regarding the Tunisian draft resolution that imposes time-limited negotiations and stoppage of unilateral steps before having a deal, Shoukry said that the council contain political considerations that could require the draft to be modified, and this will take time by the way.
From his side, Dina Mufti, the spokesman of the Ethiopian foreign ministry, said in a press conference in Addis Ababa that the UN Security Council’s decision to back the African Union mediation is a diplomatic win for Ethiopia and ended the attempts to internationalize the dispute, which should remain under the umbrella of AF, according to Mufti. In the same vein, Ethiopia’s PM said that the Renaissance Dam is not just a dam or a source of electricity for the Ethiopian, but rather a symbol of the state’s unity and sovereignty. Ahmed added, in his statements on the parliamentary win of his Prosperity Party, that completing the dam is vital for solving the problems of Ethiopia and promoting its economy.
