Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty meets with his Ugandan counterpart Jeje Odongo in New York. Photo: Egyptian foreign ministry.
According to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, FM Abdelatty met his Ugandan counterpart on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.
During the meeting, Abdelatty stressed that Egypt will take all necessary measures, in line with international law, to protect its water security, describing the Nile as an existential issue for the country.
He underlined the need for cooperation based on international law in a way that serves the interests of all Nile Basin countries.
He also expressed hope that Uganda would benefit most from Egypt’s recently launched development-support mechanism for the southern Nile Basin countries.
On 9 September, Egypt sent a letter to the UN Security Council condemning Ethiopia’s inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
In its letter, Cairo said the project remains a unilateral move that violates international law and does not affect the legal framework governing the Eastern Nile Basin.
The GERD’s launch, carried out without a binding agreement with Egypt and Sudan because of Ethiopia’s lack of compromise during negotiations, has raised longstanding fears in Cairo and Khartoum about threats to their water security.
Uganda is an upstream Nile Basin country and home to Lake Victoria, one of the main sources of the White Nile.
Abdelatty and Odongo also discussed the situation in Somalia and the deployment of African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) forces, in which both Egypt and Uganda participate.
On Sudan, the two ministers stressed the need to preserve the country’s unity, territorial integrity, and stability and to support its state institutions.
They also agreed on the importance of joint action to promote stability, security, peace, and development in the region and across Africa.
Short link: