US President Donald Trump Suspends Aid to Ethiopia Over Dispute on Nile River Dam

September 3, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — Reports from Washington indicate that the U.S. President, Donald J. Trump, has suspended aid to the Federal Republic of Ethiopia for taking unilateral decisions to fill its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without seeking consensus from the Egyptians and the Sudanese authorities.

The Trump administration is deeply concerned by the lack of progress on the tripartite mediation, and according to the U.S. State Department officials, the decision that was taken by the Ethiopians to fill their dam publicly undermines the American authority that tries to mediate a political solution between the three countries.

Speaking to Bloomberg, a State Department official, who is not authorized to speak to media, said the U.S government has been mediating a political solution that aimed to balance the interests of the three countries and by bypassing their mediation, the Ethiopians do not only undermines the Trump Administration in this regards but undermines the American’s foreign relations and policies in the region.

The Egyptians depend very much on the Nile; however, Egypt and Sudan are also holding on past colonial agreements that give the two countries lion shares on power sharing of the Nile.

While Sudan has built three majors dams, Egypt has built its Aswan Dam that has the capacity of 132km³ and holds a volume of 57,940,000 cubic yards (44,300,000 cubic metres) compared to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that will only hold 13,300,000 cubic yards (10,200,000 cubic metres).

Although the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will hold less than a quarter of the Egyptian’s Aswan Dam, Egypt is strongly opposed to its construction and threaten war on Ethiopia; however, the Ethiopians have decided to take the risk and wait for the consequences like these from the Egyptians and their allies.

At the time of this writing, Ethiopia was yet to respond to Washington and it remains unclear whether or not they will reverse their decision.