Trump offers Egypt to mediate on Ethiopia dam

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump told Egypt on Friday he was ready to reopen diplomacy to press Ethiopia into sharing water from a mega-dam that has angered Cairo.

Trump — who in his first term sent tensions spiraling by suggesting that Egypt may bomb the project — offered his services as he hailed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, an ally who helped broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

"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 said a letter to Sisi posted on social media by the White House.

"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," Trump said.

He promised that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) would be "at the very top of my agenda."

He said he hoped for a formula to provide a predictable water supply for Egypt and Sudan and let Ethiopia either sell or give electricity to the two downstream countries.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in September, inaugurated the GERD, Africa's largest hydropower project built at a cost of $4 billion, which will more than double Ethiopia's current electricity capacity.

Sisi has called the dam an existential threat, with parched Egypt counting on the Nile for 97% of its water needs.

Mediation efforts by the United States, World Bank, Russia, United Arab Emirates and the African Union have all faltered over the past decade in resolving the disputes over the dam, a unifying symbol of pride in Ethiopia.