Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Egypt has reiterated that it will not relinquish “a single drop” of its Nile water, as senior officials warned that Cairo is prepared to use all tools available under international law to safeguard what it considers an existential national interest.
The message was delivered during a coordination meeting on Wednesday between Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam, where the two reviewed Egypt’s water diplomacy and its relations with Nile Basin countries amid renewed regional discussions over the management of the river.
According to a joint statement, the ministers assessed recent developments in the Eastern Nile Basin and the consultative process within the Nile Basin Initiative, a regional forum that has been seeking to restore consensus among member states after years of political and legal deadlock. They stressed that Egypt supports cooperation and mutual benefit among Nile Basin countries, but warned that development projects must not undermine downstream water security or violate established principles of international law governing shared waterways.
Without naming specific projects, the ministers again rejected unilateral actions in the Eastern Nile Basin that they said contravene international legal norms. Egypt has long argued that major upstream projects, particularly large dams, must be agreed upon collectively and should not cause significant harm to downstream states.
The meeting underscored continued coordination between Egypt’s foreign and water ministries to monitor developments across the basin and to follow up on infrastructure and development projects in Nile Basin countries. Officials framed this approach as part of a broader strategy to balance diplomacy with firm defense of Egypt’s water rights.
Egyptian officials also highlighted Cairo’s role as a development partner across the basin, particularly in southern and upstream countries. They cited a $100 million financing mechanism established to support development studies and projects, alongside initiatives led by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development and the Egyptian Initiative for the Development of Nile Basin Countries.
According to the statement, Egypt has implemented a wide range of water and infrastructure projects in recent years, including solar-powered pumping stations in South Sudan, groundwater wells in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as pumping stations in the DRC. Additional initiatives include river berths and storage facilities, rainfall forecasting centers, flood mitigation and aquatic weed control projects, water-quality laboratories, and extensive training and capacity-building programs that have involved more than 1,650 trainees from 52 African countries.
Officials said the total cost of Egypt’s development and technical assistance projects across the Nile Basin has reached approximately $100 million, underscoring Cairo’s argument that cooperation, rather than confrontation, remains its preferred path.
The renewed emphasis on water security follows recent public remarks by Abdelatty, who warned that Egypt would not accept the construction of new dams on the Nile without prior agreement and adherence to international law. In a televised interview earlier this week, he described water security as an existential issue for Egypt and said the state was pursuing a coordinated strategy combining political, legal, diplomatic, economic, and commercial tools.
Abdelatty also pointed to what he described as a diplomatic breakthrough within the Nile Basin Initiative. He said long-stalled talks on the Cooperative Framework Agreement, intended to transform the initiative into a Nile Basin Commission, have resumed after years of division.
Previous negotiations had stalled due to disagreements between Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea, which sought stronger guarantees for downstream states, and a group led by Ethiopia that supported terms Cairo considers unacceptable. A ministerial meeting held this month in Burundi brought the opposing camps together for the first time in years, Abdelatty said, resulting in agreement by seven countries to reopen the 2010 framework and consider amendments addressing downstream concerns.
“If consensus is reached, Egypt will return strongly to the initiative and support its transformation into a Nile Water Commission,” Abdelatty said, adding that Egypt’s position remains unchanged. “Our basic principle is clear: Egypt cannot compromise or neglect its water rights.”
The renewed diplomatic activity comes as water scarcity, population growth, and climate change intensify pressure on the Nile Basin, raising the stakes for negotiations over one of Africa’s most strategically vital rivers.
