Muslim Scholar Condemns Stand of Arab League, Egypt and Sudan on GERD

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Addis Ababa September 4/2021 (ENA) The Ethiopian Muslim scholar, Sheikh Saeed Ahmed Mustafa, has condemned the governments of Egypt and Sudan as well as the Arab League for their approach to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations with Ethiopia in terms of religious thought and moral values.

The scholar told ENA that the stance of the countries and the league on the dam is entirely flawed and against the Islamic thought that preaches equal utilization of common resources.

Ethiopia is the source of most of the Abay River waters, he noted, adding that Egypt and Sudan have however been solely using the water resource for many decades. Unfortunately, the downstream countries still seek to continue exercising the water usage hegemony.

He observed that Ethiopia has been trying hard to convince Egypt and Sudan that the GERD will not cause significant harm on the downstream countries.

“I advise Egypt and Sudan to calm down and refrain from accusing Ethiopia because Ethiopia has been repeatedly pledging that it would never harm its neighbors. As far as the Ethiopian leaders do not breach the promise, the leaderships of Egypt and Sudan should also stop being  suspicious and refrain from taking the case to irrelevant countries.”

However, Egypt and Sudan have continued to engage in internationalizing the matter and  obstruct the completion of the dam by coming up with unsubstantiated claims and misinformation.

“My message to the Arab League is that interference on the issue is a mistake and unfair. It’s none of their business. Even if the case was submitted to the Arab League, the league should have studied the issue very well before passing decision and taking a stand,” Sheikh Saeed noted.

According to him, the Nile River is a gift of God to His servants across the region and advised everyone to thank God for that and use it fairly.

Any attempt to oppress others for the sake of achieving own interest is against the Islamic philosophy and has to be condemned, the scholar underscored.

None of the Ethiopian leaders has done anything to harm Egypt or Sudan, he noted, stating that nothing bad has so far occurred to the downstream countries due to the  construction of the dam.

Thus “Egypt and Sudan should stop accusing Ethiopia of things that are not real. Ethiopia has been repeatedly pledging that it would never harm its neighbors, which is also confirmed by studies and the successful completion of the first and second filling of the dam.”

Egypt and Sudan have to cooperate with the African Union to address their concerns with a view to reaching a lasting solution that benefits all the three countries, Sheikh Saeed said.

“Egypt and Sudan should also stop internationalizing the issue by trying to forward the matter to the United Nations Security Council as it is entirely an African matter. They have to come to the negotiation table led by the AU.”

The scholar also criticized the meddling of the Arab League in the issue as it is completely biased and one-sided.

Intervention of the Arab League is a "fatal mistake and flagrant injustice," that absolutely lacks understanding of the reality on the ground, the scholar stressed, advising members of the league to engage in a constructive manner with a view to ensuring equal utilization of the resource by the people in the region.

Sheikh Saeed Ahmed Mustafa is a prominent Ethiopian Muslim scholar who founded the Muslim Youth Organization. He returned home in 2018 from exile following Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's welcoming of exiled religious leaders.

Ethiopian News Agency
2023