Addis Ababa, August 21, 2026 (FMC) — Ethiopia’s Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Itefa has rebuked Egypt’s continued opposition to a new framework for shared Nile governance, asserting that resistance from downstream countries will neither derail basin-wide cooperation nor prevent Ethiopia from pursuing the development of its Nile water resources.
Speaking to local media outlet Pulse of Africa, the Minister said opposition from Egypt and Sudan is delaying the operationalization of the permanent Nile River Basin Commission, despite the entry into force of the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), which has been ratified by six Nile Basin countries. The Commission is envisaged as the basin’s permanent legal and institutional mechanism for managing and developing shared Nile waters, replacing the transitional Nile Basin Initiative.
Habtamu said Ethiopia is among the countries pressing for the Commission to become fully operational, but described continued resistance from Egypt and Sudan as a major obstacle to advancing an institutional framework built around collective basin-wide interests.
He said the CFA marks a fundamental break from previous arrangements that, in Ethiopia’s view, excluded upstream countries from meaningful participation in the management and development of Nile waters.
According to the Minister, the framework establishes the principle that the Nile belongs to all its basin countries and requires them to jointly manage, develop and protect the river while respecting one another’s interests.
He said Egypt and Sudan are opposing that principle and, in doing so, are standing against the position of the majority of Nile Basin countries.
Habtamu further rejected any attempt to portray the CFA as a framework designed to undermine downstream interests. He said it instead rests on equitable and reasonable utilization, sustainable management and information sharing, urging Egypt and Sudan to engage with the framework rather than resist its implementation.
The Minister said Ethiopia has supported efforts to give countries that have not yet joined or ratified the CFA additional time to participate. However, he warned that persistent opposition to the Commission’s functionality cannot be allowed to indefinitely hold back basin-wide institutional cooperation.
He also characterized Egypt’s resistance as part of a longer-standing pattern of opposition to Ethiopia’s development of Nile water resources, extending to projects that preceded the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Habtamu categorically rejected the notion that Ethiopia’s development of its Nile tributaries should depend on authorization from downstream countries. He stressed that Ethiopia has the right to develop its water resources while observing its obligation not to cause significant harm to other riparian states.
At the same time, he reaffirmed Ethiopia’s preference for cooperation over confrontation, saying dialogue, mutual understanding and flexibility remain the only sustainable means of resolving Nile-related differences.
He warned that continued confrontation and failure to establish effective basin-wide cooperation could eventually expose the Nile Basin to dynamics similar to those witnessed in the Tigris and Euphrates basins.
Habtamu said Ethiopia ultimately wants the Nile to become a platform for shared development rather than a source of perpetual contention, with upstream countries able to harness hydropower potential while downstream countries can contribute expertise in irrigation and agricultural development.
The Nile Basin Initiative describes the CFA as a framework for integrated management, sustainable development and harmonious utilization of Nile waters, with the proposed Commission serving as the permanent institutional mechanism for cooperation among basin states.
For Ethiopia, the Minister made clear that institutional delays will not halt the country’s development ambitions.
“If they keep on opposing that, nothing will hinder Ethiopia not to develop its water resources and one of the tributaries of the Nile River Basin,” he stressed.
He underscored that developing Ethiopia’s Nile tributaries remains central to expanding electricity generation, accelerating industrialization and creating employment, while pursuing equitable and reasonable utilization of shared transboundary water resources.