Open letter regarding the EU Council and the Egyptian Government’s joint statement issued on the 22nd October 2025 on the Ethiopian Dam and the Horn of Africa.

28th October 2025

From: Steering Group members of Defend Ethiopia Task Force (DETF – Europe and USA).

Subject: Open letter regarding the EU Council and the Egyptian Government’s joint statement issued on the 22nd October 2025 on the Ethiopian Dam and the Horn of Africa.

We, the Defend Ethiopia Task Force (DETF) members residing in the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Norway, United Kingdom and the USA, express our complete disappointment, especially the 16th point of the EU-Egypt joint statement disguised under ‘‘Food and Resilience’’. The Egyptian Government is continuously bringing the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to international debate, while the directly interested African countries are mere colonial subjects without agency. We believe firmly that African problems should find solutions in the continent and among the concerned parties. There is a long time attempt, by Egypt, to paint the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam a false flag which is completely contrary to fact. Ethiopia, as an 86% water contributor to the Nile River, has an indisputable natural, legal, and historical right to use this natural resource for its development. Ethiopia will not be again the sacrificial lamb for any geopolitical interest and no political pressure but technical and scientific approaches can resolve the dispute on the great Ethiopian renaissance dam which has been inappropriately dragged in every international panel no matter how the Great Ethiopian Dam is a development project build in a sovereign state in accordance with vanguarded technologies and in respect of international law.

It is sad to see the EU slip such an unfair statement under the collaboration umbrella, which the Egyptian Government continues to invoke a colonial-era agreement where Ethiopia was not allocated a drop of water in the development of the Nile River. Of course, this was never accepted as a serious document by Ethiopia and cannot be a basis for resolving an actual or perceived challenge in the 21st century.

We would like to remind the EU that Egypt’s renewed diplomatic action to take this agenda to the EU council is similar deceptive attempt as the one brought at United Nations Security Council (UNSC), putting Ethiopia in a wrong side as the party opposed to resolve the ongoing disagreement through transparent and continuous discussions with other riparian states.

The attempt to internationalize and politicize the issue of the great Ethiopian renaissance dam is deceptive and is another great failure to Egypt diplomacy in African issues.

Documented evidence shows that Egypt has tirelessly worked to interfere in Ethiopia’s internal affairs by proxy through multiple armed groups. Therefore, we cannot help but view this latest effort as part of Egypt’s broader dual strategic campaign to destabilize Ethiopia, viz, by supporting multiple armed groups to create continuous escalated conflicts while simultaneously preventing Ethiopia from focusing on its successful, all-inclusive developmental journey.

Considering the current cascading geopolitical paradigm shifts and corresponding global challenges, in general, and regional challenges in the Horn of Africa in particular, the aforementioned statement is at best unrealistic, suspiciously pointing to an ulterior motive, and at worst, extremely provocative, bordering on a deliberately inflammatory hidden agenda affecting the volatile Horn of Africa. As such, Ethiopia’s rightful act of building an environmentally friendly and renewable energy-generating dam to improve the lives of its hundreds of millions of citizens by harnessing the gift of nature that is the Blue Nile is entirely lawful. In addition, Ethiopia has demonstrated that the GERD does not have any discernible negative impact on downriver riparian states, including Egypt. We believe that the issue of the filling of the GERD, in the eyes of most stakeholders and concerned observers, is now viewed as a fait accompli.

Therefore, we urge the EU countries, friends of Ethiopia, and the international diplomatic community to:

• Reject this statement and encourage Egypt to engage in a genuine and transparent dialogue to resolve all disagreements, with all riparian states, regarding the GERD and its impact.
• Recognize and advise Egypt to refrain from its interference and destabilizing diplomatic and security actions in the Horn of Africa.

Finally, as concerned Ethiopians residing in Europe, we are always available to help in any way possible to facilitate the prevention of further disagreements and escalation leading to unwanted regional destabilization.

Defend Ethiopia Task Force (DETF-Europe and the USA)