Egypt and Sudan welcomed President Donald Trump’s offer to restart U.S. mediation efforts with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a project that has inflamed a long-running dispute over Nile River water sharing.
In statements shared on Saturday, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said he valued Trump’s attention to what Egypt describes as the Nile River issue for Egypt, and he said Egypt is committed to “serious and constructive cooperation with the Nile Basin countries, based on the principles of international law, in a manner that achieves shared interests without causing harm to any party.”
El-Sissi also said Egypt supports the U.S. efforts to resolve the dispute with Ethiopia, according to the report.
Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council chairman and military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan praised Trump’s initiative as a step “to find sustainable and satisfactory solutions that preserve everyone’s rights,” the report said.
The report said there was no immediate comment from Ethiopia.
Trump’s renewed diplomacy appears to have been announced through social media posts. On Friday, Trump posted a letter he said he sent to el-Sissi, writing: “I am ready to restart U.S. mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to responsibly resolve the question of ’The Nile Water Sharing’ once and for all.”
The report said Washington-led mediations began during Trump’s first term but effectively collapsed in 2020, when Ethiopia withdrew. It said some discussions later continued under the African Union without reaching a settlement.
Ethiopia inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, last fall, and the report described it as Africa’s largest dam. The project is meant to produce more than 5,000 megawatts and is intended to double Ethiopia’s electricity generation capacity, the report said.
The dispute centers on the dam’s location on the Blue Nile near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, and on how it will be filled and operated. The report said Cairo and Khartoum are calling for a legally binding agreement covering how GERD will be filled and operated, while Addis Ababa insists on guidelines.
The report said the current disagreement focuses on how the dam’s annual replenishment is conducted, the amount of water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs, and the method the three countries will use to settle future disputes.
Egypt, a mostly desert country, depends on the Nile River for fresh water for a population of 110 million, the report said. It said Egypt fears the dam could drastically reduce Nile flow and severely affect agriculture and other sectors, adding that el-Sissi has said Egypt’s share of Nile water is “untouchable” while favoring resolution through negotiations.
Sudan, meanwhile, wants coordination of GERD’s operation and replenishment to avoid unexpected impacts on its own dams, while Ethiopia argues the $5 billion dam is essential because the vast majority of its population lacks electricity, the report said.