Ethiopia slams Trump for saying Egypt will ‘blow up’ Nile dam

Vowing not to ‘cave in to aggressions of any kind’, Ethiopia said it was working to resolve issues over the project with neighbours Sudan and Egypt

The comment came hours after the US president weighed in on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute in support of Cairo

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The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda last year. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:10pm, 24 Oct 2020Updated: 10:09pm, 24 Oct 2020

Ethiopia vowed on Saturday not to “cave in to aggressions of any kind” after US President Donald Trump lashed out over the country’s Nile River mega-dam and suggested Egypt might destroy it.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office defended the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to become Africa’s largest hydropower plant, and said Ethiopia was working to resolve long-standing issues over the project with downstream neighbours Sudan and Egypt.

“Nonetheless, occasional statements of belligerent threats to have Ethiopia succumb to unfair terms still abound. These threats and affronts to Ethiopian sovereignty are misguided, unproductive, and clear violations of international law,” his office said in a statement.

“Ethiopia will not cave-in to aggressions of any kind,” the statement added.

A separate version of the statement issued in Amharic featured more muscular language.

“There are two facts that the world has certified. The first is that there has been no one who has lived in peace after provoking Ethiopia. The second is if Ethiopians stand united for one purpose, it’s inevitable, they will triumph,” it said.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Photo: DPA