'Existential threat': Sisi warns on Nile water as Ethiopia completes dam

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday held talks wwith his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni in Cairo, in which the contentious topic of River Nile was discussed.

At a joint press conference with Museveni, Sissi vowed to take all measures to protect his country's water security.

Sisi’s remarks were likely in reference to Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD). Cairo fears the dam will reduce the amount of water flowing to it.

Addis Ababa has dismissed the assertion.

“Anyone who imagines that Egypt will turn a blind eye to an existential threat to its water security is mistaken… We will continue to monitor the situation and take all measures provided for under international law to safeguard our people’s existential resources,” Sisi warned as quoted by ahram online.

A decade of negotiations between the downstream nations and Ethiopia has failed to produce an agreement.

Ethiopia has accused Egypt and Sudan of seeking to curtail its development ambitions.

Last year, a new Nile water sharing accord - the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) - backed by seven countries took effect, drawing protests from Cairo and Khartoum.

Several upstream countries have long argued that the downstream states of Egypt and Sudan had been unfairly allocated greater rights over the river Nile by colonial-era agreements.

The Nile River has long been a focal point of geopolitical tension in eastern Africa, particularly between Egypt and Ethiopia.