CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) Egypt's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it had requested an explanation from Ethiopia after its water minister, Seleshi Bekele, announced that the reservoir behind a controversial Nile dam had begun filling up.
"Egypt has requested urgent official explanations from the Ethiopian government concerning the accuracy of this matter," the ministry said in a statement.
Bekele said earlier in the day that the reservoir near the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had been filling naturally with rain water. The dam will be Africa's largest hydroelectric plant once it is fully operational, but downstream countries fear it will restrict their access to water.
The Sudanese water authority has said that water levels on the Blue Nile have dropped to 90 million cubic meters a day. Sudan and Egypt have been negotiating a solution to the water crisis with Ethiopia but the recent talks ended without an agreement.
