Trump offers to mediate Egypt, Ethiopia Nile dam dispute

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was prepared to revive US diplomacy to press Ethiopia into sharing Nile River waters with Egypt, reopening a long-running and politically sensitive dispute over a massive hydroelectric dam that Cairo considers an existential threat.

In a letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi posted on social media by the White House, Trump said Washington was ready to re-engage after years of stalled negotiations over Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, known as the GERD.

"I am ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to responsibly resolve the question of 'The Nile Water Sharing' once and for all," Trump wrote.

"The United States affirms that no state in this region should unilaterally control the precious resources of the Nile, and disadvantage its neighbors in the process,” he added.

The offer comes as Egypt continues to express alarm over the GERD, Africa's largest hydropower project, which Ethiopia inaugurated in September. Built at a cost of about $5 billion, the dam is expected to more than double Ethiopia's electricity generation capacity and is seen in Addis Ababa as a cornerstone of national development.

For Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97 percent of its water needs, the project has long been framed as a threat to national survival. President el-Sisi has repeatedly warned that any reduction in Nile flows could have catastrophic consequences for the arid country. Sudan, also downstream, has voiced concerns about water security and dam safety.

Trump said he hoped for an agreement that would guarantee predictable water supplies for Egypt and Sudan while allowing Ethiopia to benefit economically from the project. He suggested a formula under which Ethiopia could either sell or give electricity to the two downstream countries.

Previous mediation efforts led by the United States, the World Bank, the African Union, Russia and the United Arab Emirates have failed over the past decade, with talks repeatedly breaking down over water-release schedules and legal guarantees. 

In Ethiopia, the dam has become a powerful symbol of sovereignty and national pride, complicating compromise.

Edited by CGTN Africa reporter Marion Gachuhi