Addis Ababa, November 5, 2026 (FMC) – Ethiopia’s Minister of Water and Energy, Engineer Habtamu Itefa, has strongly rebuked Egypt for what he described as its abuse of available Nile waters through excessive consumption, while blaming Ethiopia for its water shortages and portraying the upstream country’s development as a threat.
“Ethiopia is saving, protecting the water availability, but the Egyptians are abusing the available water,” the Minister said in an exclusive interview with Fana Media Corporation, directly challenging Cairo’s accusations against Ethiopia.
He pointed to Egypt’s cultivation of thousands of hectares of sugarcane, a crop with one of the highest water requirements, as well as rice, which also demands extensive irrigation. He questioned why Egypt continues to devote large areas to such water-intensive crops while complaining about water scarcity and accusing Ethiopia of threatening its supply.
“Then they come to say, ‘Oh, we don’t have water. Ethiopia is threatening us in terms of water availability and so on,” he said.
The Minister’s criticism was directed at what he described as Egypt’s failure to conserve the water available to it. Rather than address its own patterns of consumption, he said, Cairo continues to blame Ethiopia for its water difficulties.
He contrasted Egypt’s practices with Ethiopia’s efforts to protect water availability, including conservation and tree-planting activities in the Tekeze, Abbay and Baro river basins. He said these efforts are part of Ethiopia’s work to protect the river systems that contribute to the Nile.
The Minister also challenged Egypt’s position over the river, stressing the disparity between the countries’ contributions to its waters.
“They contribute zero amount of water to the Nile. But Ethiopia is contributing 86 percent,” he said.
He rejected Egypt’s portrayal of Ethiopia as a threat to downstream water availability, emphasizing that Ethiopia would not stop the water flowing to Egypt. However, he made clear that this would not prevent Ethiopia from using its own water resources to meet the needs of its people.
With a population of more than 130 million, he said, Ethiopia requires water for irrigation, hydropower generation, fisheries and recreation. The country’s development cannot be held back while its people need these resources to improve their livelihoods and expand productive activities.
The Minister reiterated that the Nile has enough water to serve all countries along its course, rejecting the notion that Egypt can claim exclusive ownership of the river or dictate how upstream countries develop their water resources.
He said Ethiopia’s approach is to protect and develop its water resources while ensuring that the benefits extend beyond its borders, rather than turn a shared river into a source of confrontation.