Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sewilam, warned Ethiopia this Sunday that Egypt will not allow “anyone to control the key to life” of its population, after accusing Addis Ababa of blocking dialogue for an equitable sharing of the Nile River.

[African Foreign Ministers Promote Equitable Use of the Nile River: Egypt Warns Ethiopia Not To Allow It To Control the Nile](https://www.telesurenglish.net/egypt-warns-ethiopia-not-to-allow-it-to-control-the-nile/)

In a meeting with foreign correspondents in Cairo, Sewilam denounced that Ethiopia is the only country in the Nile basin that refuses to review the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), despite the fact that the rest of the member states agreed in February to reopen negotiations.

In September 2025, Ethiopia inaugurated the “Grand Renaissance Dam”, a large hydrographic project on the Blue Nile that has been viewed with great suspicion, even rejection, from Cairo due to its impact on the river’s flow.

“All countries accepted to restart consultations and amend the agreement to restore the Nile family. Only one country refused to return to the table: Ethiopia,” the minister asserted.

Egypt🇪🇬 has rejected Ethiopia’s efforts to gain access to the Red Sea and warned against the construction of new dams, amid ongoing tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa over regional security and Nile water resources. pic.twitter.com/UOYc0bqGhu

— AFRICA IS HOME GLOBAL (@AfricaisHOME2) September 20, 2026

Egypt and Sudan refuse to sign the CFA – an agreement promoted by the upstream countries to replace colonial-era treaties that granted Cairo majority control of the river – considering that it does not guarantee their water security nor recognizes the pre-existing uses of a desert country of 120 million inhabitants that depends 98% on the Nile for its survival.

Likewise, the head of the water portfolio rejected accusations that Egypt hoards the river’s resources.

According to data presented by Sewilam, based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), more than 2 billion cubic meters of rain fall annually in the Nile basin countries, of which Egypt only receives 55.5 million, which is 2.7% of the total.

“Ethiopia receives more than 1 billion cubic meters of annual rainfall, and its livestock alone consumes 85.5 million cubic meters of water per year, which represents 150% of all the water that reaches Egypt,” Sewilam emphasized.

Similarly, the minister warned that Egypt is in a situation of “absolute water scarcity,” with a per capita availability of 473 cubic meters per year, less than half of the international water poverty threshold (1,000 cubic meters).

To cover this structural deficit, the country is forced to reuse the same drop of water up to three times through underground drainage networks and mega-treatment structures such as those of the New Delta (7.5 million cubic meters per day) and Bahr El Bakar (5.6 million).

In addition, Egypt indirectly imports more than 30 billion cubic meters of water per year in food.

“We are not against dams or the development of our neighbors. We have approved 36 projects in the upper basin, including four hydroelectric dams. All we demand is respect for International Law, prior notification, and multilateral negotiation,” he concluded.

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