Abu Zeid pointed out that the Addis Ababa declaration is “a desperate attempt to drive a wedge between Arab and African countries by portraying Arab support for Egypt’s just and responsible stance as an Arab-African dispute”.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson regretted the false allegations in the statement that the three countries, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, had already agreed during negotiations on the volume of water to be stored and the period of filling the reservoir of the dam, and that resorting to Egypt and Sudan to ask for Arab support is a violation of the agreement of principles, and even of the assertion that the Arab states members of the African Union do not unanimously support the Arab decision taken at the last summit.
He added that Egypt’s history of supporting national struggle and liberation movements from colonialism in Africa, as well as its efforts and resources to support economic and social development and peacebuilding programs on the continent, are not at all consistent with flimsy claims that Egypt is mobilizing Arab countries against African interests.
He added that the fact that Ethiopia is the seat of the African Union does not qualify it to speak on behalf of the African Union or its Member States in this way, to cover up its violations of the rules of international law and principles of good neighborliness.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson concluded his statements by refuting Ethiopia’s claim that it had taken into account the concerns of Egypt and Sudan, noting that this contradicts the fact that the negotiations were pursued for more than 10 years in vain, and without any commitment or consideration for the rights of downstream countries, calling on the Ethiopian side to stop the tendentious invocation of what it calls “colonial agreements” to derogate from its legal obligations , which she signed as a fully sovereign state, and to her moral duty not to harm downstream countries, and to stop blaming other parties by simply asking them to commit to the natural outcome of the negotiations, which is a binding legal agreement that takes into account the existential concerns of downstream countries and responds to the development aspirations of the Ethiopian people.
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