Egypt Uses GERD’s Issue to Divert Attention from Domestic Challenges: EIPD President

Addis Ababa, August 5, 2026 (ENA) —Egyptian authorities have intensified their media campaign against the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to divert domestic economic and political pressures, President of Ethiopian Institute for Public Diplomacy (EIPD), Yassin Ahmed told ENA.

The renewed focus on the dam is aimed at diverting public attention from economic and livelihood challenges facing the Egyptian people, he underscored.

Yassin said the GERD issue has increasingly become a political and media tool for domestic consumption in Egypt rather than a matter centered on water resource management.

He stressed that Ethiopia’s disagreement is not with the Egyptian people but with policies pursued by successive Egyptian governments, which he said have not been based on partnership, cooperation, and regional integration.

"The GERD is now being used domestically in Egypt to distract the Egyptian people from the country's internal and regional challenges," Yassin said, adding that Egyptian authorities revive the issue whenever economic, political, and security pressures intensify.

 

He said the Egyptian government has attempted to associate the GERD with challenges unrelated to the project, including flooding and declining water levels, while noting that some Sudanese experts have attributed such issues to dam management practices in Sudan.

According to Yassin, the GERD has become "a scapegoat" used by Egyptian authorities to shift responsibility for domestic and regional challenges as part of a political and media campaign against the project.

He also alleged that Egypt has benefited from the circumstances created by the ongoing conflict in Sudan, which has limited Khartoum’s ability to fully utilize its allocated share of Nile waters, leaving a significant portion stored behind Egypt’s High Aswan Dam.

Yassin referred to previous remarks by Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam regarding the strategic reserves of the High Aswan Dam, saying these statements indicate, in his view, that Egypt does not face an immediate water security threat from the GERD.

"The GERD has become a political and media card used to pressure Ethiopia. Whenever Ethiopia makes progress in convincing the international community of its legitimate rights, Egypt resorts to the GERD issue to tarnish Ethiopia's image and demonize the dam," he said.

He further claimed that renewed attention to the GERD coincides with Ethiopia’s diplomatic efforts to promote its positions on regional issues, including what he described as Ethiopia’s legal and historical right to access the sea.

 

Yassin said Cairo has sought to reactivate the GERD dispute to weaken Ethiopia’s position and exert pressure in broader regional matters.

He emphasized that the GERD is a strategic development project designed to support regional integration, provide electricity to neighboring countries, and advance shared interests among Nile Basin countries, rejecting claims that the dam threatens downstream nations.

The EIPD president also argued that Egypt’s continued refusal to resume negotiations serves political and media objectives by keeping the issue unresolved and diverting attention from domestic economic and social challenges.

He stressed that Nile Basin issues should be addressed through dialogue, cooperation, and mutual respect rather than political pressure and media campaigns.

"Ethiopia remains committed to pursuing shared development and mutual benefit for the region," Yassin underscored.