El-Sisi, Al-Burhan reject unilateral acts on Nile, stress need to respect international law

CAIRO – 18 December 2025: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on Thursday reaffirmed their rejection of unilateral measures in the Blue Nile.

As the two leaders met in Cairo on Thursday, they underscored the importance of respecting international law to protect the shared interests of all Nile Basin countries.

They affirmed alignment on priorities related to national security and stressed their commitment to continued coordination and joint efforts to safeguard water security.

 

The two leaders’ remarks on the Nile come while their two downstream countries have repeatedly rejected Ethiopia’s unilateral measures regarding filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Egypt and Sudan have called on Ethiopia to sign a binding legal agreement governing the operation and filling of the dam to secure their water interests, a demand that Addis Ababa has rejected despite more than a decade of talks.

GERD has a massive reservoir capable of holding up to 74 billion cubic meters of water.

Egypt and Sudan are concerned that unregulated and uncoordinated measures in its filling and operation could jeopardize their water rights during droughts or floods.

In October, Egypt accused Ethiopia of creating a “man-made flood” that put the lives and resources of populations in the two downstream countries at risk, citing “hasty and uncoordinated filling” of the recently inaugurated dam.