CAIRO — Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry recently spoke about the government’s ability to overcome the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without damaging Egyptian water security. At the same time, however, his Foreign Ministry and the Egyptian Water Resources Ministry warned about the dangers of Ethiopia’s unilateral measures and the filling of the reservoir. These conflicting statements raised several questions about how to deal with the second filling of the hydroelectric dam in such a way as to cause the least possible harm to Egypt's water resources.
In televised statements made May 19 on the sidelines of a Paris conference to drum up international investment for Sudan, Shoukry reassured the Egyptian public about the second filling of the dam.