Cairo-Sana
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi asserted that Egypt would not accept infringing on its water rights in the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, calling for a binding legal agreement.
The Egyptian presidency quoted Sisi as saying during his meeting with his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in Cairo today that Egypt will not accept compromising its water security, and therefore there is a need to reach the desired binding legal agreement that preserves Egypt's water rights and spares the region from further tension and instability.
Al-Sisi praised the Congolese president's efforts and his ability to deal with the Renaissance Dam file, and Egypt's keenness to support those efforts within the framework of the negotiation track sponsored by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the current chair of the African Union, and the participation of international partners with the aim of reaching a binding legal agreement on the rules for the filling and operation of the Renaissance Dam.
For his part, Congolese President Tshisekedi affirmed his keenness to intensify coordination on this sensitive issue to help all parties achieve progress in the relevant tripartite negotiations.
Tshisekedi is visiting Sudan and Egypt to discuss the developments of the Renaissance Dam crisis and try to find a mechanism to solve it.
Earlier today, Sudanese Foreign Minister Maryam Al-Sadiq said that the President of the Congo presented an initiative to solve the crisis of the Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile River, which caused disputes with Egypt and Sudan.
To date, all rounds of negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have failed to reach an agreement on the rules for filling and operating the dam.