CAIRO — Relations between Egypt and Ethiopia are still tense over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), while the two countries, alongside Sudan, continue to engage in lengthy negotiations that began about a decade ago. The African Union (AU) has recently tried to act as a mediator, but the talks reached a deadlock Aug. 28.

Al-Monitor met with the new Ethiopian ambassador to Egypt, Markos Tekle Rike, for his first press interview since he submitted his credentials to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Sept. 23 to succeed Dina Mufti.

The Ethiopian diplomat talked about his strategy to bring perspectives closer and expressed Ethiopia’s take on the GERD negotiations after the United States suspended some aid to his country amid a lack of progress toward reaching an agreement, according to US reports. 

Ethiopia had recalled Mufti and seven other ambassadors in March, amid escalating tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa, a few days following the failure of the US mediation to solve the GERD crisis. It took Ethiopia five months to appoint Rike as the new ambassador.