CAIRO - The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has demanded information from the Ethiopian authorities about water projects Addis Ababa is planning on the Blue Nile, a major tributary of the Nile. “According to international law, Ethiopia has to inform us beforehand, so that none of the Nile Basin states is harmed,” Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs Mona Omar said in press remarks. Ethiopia on Wednesday said it plans to build a huge dam on the Nile, despite a long-running row with Egypt over use of the river. The facility, known as the Grand Millennium Dam of Ethiopia, will be built at a cost of 80 billion birr ($4.76 billion), according to Water and Energy Minister Alemayehu Tegenu Alemayehu. Asked if Egypt might resort to legal means through international organisations, Omar said: “All choices are on the table. We are doing our best, focusing on dialogue, negotiations and bilateral relations.” The ten Nile Basin countries have for more than a decade been locked in often bitter talks to renegotiate colonial-era treaties that give Egypt and Sudan the lion's share of the river's waters. However, six of the upstream states ��" Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi - have signed a new deal stripping Egypt of its veto and agreeing to renegotiate how much water each country is entitled to. Last month, Burundi became the sixth nation to sign an agreement on using water from the Nile, enabling ratification of an accord that would strip Egypt of its veto power over projects that tap the world's longest river. Omar said that there are continuous contacts with fellow Basin states to defuse the crisis, especially as the Nile Basin Initiative won't be put into effect until it has been ratified by the parliaments of the six countries.
