Sudan, Egypt Reject Wider Nile Basin Role in Ethiopia Dam Dispute

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty greeted his Sudanese counterpart, Omer Siddiq, in Cairo on September 3, 2025

September 3, 2025 (CAIRO) – Sudan and Egypt on Wednesday rejected attempts to include other Nile Basin countries in their long-running dispute with Ethiopia over its massive dam on the Blue Nile, insisting the talks must be confined to the three countries.

The position was announced in a joint statement following a meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries in Cairo.

Cairo and Khartoum “reject any efforts to involve the rest of the basin countries” in the dispute over the dam, the statement said. They described the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as a violation of international law that poses “serious implications” and a “continuing threat” to them as downstream nations.

The statement cited risks from Ethiopia’s “unilateral actions in filling and operating the dam,” its safety, and the potential for uncontrolled water flows, especially during droughts.

The two countries called on Ethiopia to change its policy to restore regional cooperation. The Blue Nile, which originates in Ethiopia, accounts for approximately 85% of the Nile River’s water.

Egypt and Sudan’s position challenges a rival water-sharing pact, the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), which was ratified by six upstream countries, including Ethiopia, and came into force last year.

Sudan and Egypt reject the CFA, also known as the Entebbe Agreement, because it challenges a 1959 treaty that granted them the vast majority of the river’s annual flow. That treaty allocated 55.5 billion cubic meters of water to Egypt and 18.5 billion to Sudan, but made no allowance for Ethiopia.