One statement has rattled Egypt: "The Nile will be under our control"

Ethiopia's Minister of Water and Energy, Habtamu Itefa, stated that the flow of Nile water towards Egypt and Sudan "will be under the control" of his country, as reported on Sunday by the Al-Arabiya network. According to the report, Itefa also announced that Addis Ababa intends to build three additional dams on the Blue Nile as part of what he termed "fair and equitable use of Nile waters and achieving sustainable development."

The Ethiopian minister accused Egypt of conducting "misleading" media campaigns, which he claimed were intended to deny Ethiopia its right to utilize water resources within its territory. According to previous reports, the three planned dams could collectively reach a storage capacity of about 140 billion cubic meters, in addition to the 74 billion cubic meters held by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. However, these plans have not yet received formal and detailed confirmation from the Ethiopian government.

An official Egyptian source told Al-Arabiya today that Cairo "will not allow Ethiopia to create facts on the ground on the Nile." According to the source, "illusions of control over the Nile River contradict the rules of international law," and the recent statements undermine the Ethiopian claim that its moves are intended solely for development purposes.

"This is a direct and explicit threat to Egypt and Sudan," stated former Egyptian Minister of Irrigation, Mohamed Nasr El-Din Allam.

According to him, filling the reservoirs of additional dams will reduce the volume of water flowing to downstream countries and cause further water loss due to evaporation and seepage.

Egyptian international law expert, Mohamed Mahmoud Mehran, argued that unilateral activity contradicts the principle of preventing significant harm and the obligation of prior notification regarding projects on international rivers. He called for the use of dispute resolution mechanisms outlined in Article 33 of the UN Charter.

The Nile is considered an existential issue in Egypt, as the country relies on it for nearly all its water needs. Conversely, Ethiopia argues that the historical agreements relied upon by Cairo were signed during the colonial era and left upstream Nile nations without real rights.

The conflict has been intense since construction of the Renaissance Dam began in 2011. The dam was inaugurated in September 2025, yet the countries have failed to reach a legally binding agreement to regulate its operation, data sharing, and water release levels during drought years. It should be noted that Al-Arabiya did not specify when or where the statement attributed to Itefa was made.