State Department official: There are ‘technical solutions’ to Nile River dam issue
At a House hearing on Tuesday, a Republican congressman made an impassioned plea to consider Egypt’s water security regarding Ethiopia’s megadam on the Nile River.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee touched on the outstanding issues involving Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt regarding Ethiopia’s dam on the Nile River at a hearing on Tuesday.
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs Robert Godec testified before the committee along with Sarah Charles, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. Most of the hearing focused on the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Some members also brought up the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ethiopia built the massive hydroelectric dam to deliver water to its population of more than 110 million and help alleviate poverty. The downstream nations of Egypt and Sudan believe that unilaterally filling the dam sans an agreement could dangerously lower water levels in the Nile and connected rivers in their territories. Ethiopia filled the dam last July during East Africa’s rainy season and plans to do so again this summer.
US policy on the GERD is still in support of a negotiated settlement, and Godec said the United States continues to support the African Union’s efforts in this regard.
