Egypt says it will not allow Ethiopia to build new dams on the Nile

Egypt's irrigation minister said at a press conference in Cairo on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, that Egypt will not allow Ethiopia to build new dams on the Nile River. The remarks came about two weeks after reports that Ethiopia plans to build three additional dams alongside the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), plans on which Addis Ababa has not officially commented.

He stressed that Egypt has repeatedly called for a clear, legally binding mechanism for exchanging operational data on the GERD so that downstream countries Egypt and Sudan can know expected water releases and annual operating plans. The absence of such information, he said, leaves Sudan in an extremely difficult position when it comes to operating its own dams and managing water storage.

Construction of the GERD began in 2011. Cairo and Khartoum insist on a legally binding trilateral agreement before full operation, while Ethiopia maintains such an agreement is unnecessary and says the dam will not harm downstream interests. Talks resumed in 2023 after a three-year suspension and stalled again in 2024. The Nile, about 6,650 kilometres long, is shared by 11 countries.