Trump Accused By Ethiopia Of Stoking 'War' Over Nile River Dam

US President Donald Trump has been accused - by Ethiopia - of stoking a "war" over the Nile River mega-dam after he railed against the ongoing project hinting that the Egyptian Government could end up destroying it.

Trump had claimed, “It’s a very dangerous situation because Egypt is not going to be able to live that way,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 

“They’ll end up blowing up the dam. And I said it and I say it loud and clear — they’ll blow up that dam. And they have to do something,”

Ethiopia's foreign minister Gedu Andargachew called for a meeting with the US ambassador to Ethiopia, Michael Raynor, to speak on the president's statement.

Gedu said to Raynor, “the incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt by a sitting US president neither reflects the long-standing partnership and strategic alliance between Ethiopia and the United States nor is acceptable in international law governing interstate relations."

In the defence of the dam project, the office of Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, said that the country was dedicated to the project.

It stated, “Nonetheless, occasional statements of belligerent threats to have Ethiopia succumb to unfair terms still abound. These threats and affronts to Ethiopian sovereignty are misguided, unproductive, and clear violations of international law.

“Ethiopia will not cave into aggressions of any kind.”

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It added, in its local Amharic language, “There are two facts that the world has certified. The first is that there has been no one who has lived in peace after provoking Ethiopia. The second is if Ethiopians stand united for one purpose, it’s inevitable they will triumph."

Ethiopia-Washington Failed Deal

Ethiopia and Washington tried to make a deal on the issue of the dam, a deal that fell through after Trump was accused, by Ethiopia, of having a soft side for Egypt.

The amount of aid that was channeled to the project from Washington was “approximately $264 million”, according to the US State Department to the Washington Post, adding that it would suspend its own side of the aid to Ethiopia.

Speaking on the subject, Ethiopia's former prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, said of Trump's remarks, “Sorry to say but the man doesn’t have a clue on what he is talking about. Ethiopia and Ethiopians will never be threatened by such irresponsible statement."