YouSaid · the spoken record

Selim

lines on the record: 129
first: 2014-09-19
most recent: 2023-11-29
sittings or episodes: 10
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“That is the day after that will restore the rights of the Palestinian people, provide security to the Israeli people and allow all peoples of the region to enjoy security, stability, coexistence and cooperation for development and prosperity, in line with our common human values.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“I call on the Council to accept the full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations. That lies at the core of the Council’s mandate, pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations. In conclusion, to all actors interested in the day after, it is time for us to work seriously. We stand ready to cooperate with anyone, with no exception, to set up a political framework and take the necessary measures to end the temporary stage, which started with Oslo, in order to start implementing the two-State solution by creating an independent, contiguous Palestinian State, along the lines of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“Concerning the day after, although the picture is not yet clear given the ambiguous goals of the current war, we believe that the only alternative is to address the root causes of the conflict and the real reasons for the suffering we are witnessing today. Addressing the Palestinian question completely will end the occupation. Anything less than that will lead to temporary results. Cycles of violence will be repeated and the desired peace and security in the region will not prevail, including in Israel. We must put aside all useless statements and work hand in hand to implement the only internationally agreed solution, namely, the two-State solution. That solution should be enforced, not just supported by statements. At the same time, Member States that have not yet done so should recognize the State of Palestine.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“We urge the Council to give positive consideration to the draft resolution and to assume the level of responsibility that this unprecedented humanitarian tragedy requires. We also encourage increased humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. What has been provided so far — and Egypt has contributed 70 per cent of it — does not meet the needs of 2.5 million Palestinians. We also urge the Council to avoid double standards and to turn statements of support with the people of Gaza into action. Furthermore, we consider any attempt to block the draft resolution as an endorsement of the blockade on Gaza and of starving women and children, denying them shelter and basic health care in extremely harsh conditions, with winter approaching.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“We have condemned the targeting of innocent people. However, we wonder about the position held by the international community and the Security Council with regard to Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, who for years have been imprisoned in harsh conditions, without charge or trial. Are they not hostages taken by the occupying State? Furthermore, we are working with our partners within the Ministerial Committee established during the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit, held in Riyadh, to secure humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip. In that context, we have submitted a non-politicized draft resolution to the Council. It focuses solely on humanitarian issues and on saving 2.5 million innocent people in Gaza.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“Based on logic and on international legitimacy, there is a need to end that damned war in order to save lives and protect civilians from the scourge of war. Egypt is working on the implementation of General Assembly resolution ES- 10/21, on humanitarian obligations. In cooperation with sisterly Qatar and the United States, Egypt succeeded in brokering the hostage and prisoner exchange, as well as the delivery of aid to the north and the south of Gaza. Egypt will continue its efforts to extend the truce and arrive at a ceasefire and put an end to the war and destruction. We call on the Security Council to support those efforts and to hold perpetrators responsible for the crimes they have committed against civilians, whoever they are. Since day one, Egypt has called for the release of civilian hostages.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“What is happening in Gaza, in full view of the world, is also happening in the West Bank. The same policy expels Palestinians from the West Bank, including through settler violence, expulsions and military incursions in the towns of the West Bank, in addition to the annexation of land via systematic settlement activities that consolidate the illegal occupation. Egypt reaffirms before the Council its complete rejection of any intent, plan or attempt to liquidate the Palestinian question by transferring the Palestinian people from their land occupied since 1967. Egypt warns against the consequences of such conduct on peace in the entire region. Egypt calls on the international community to stand firm against all practices that could lead to that situation — the question is whether today or the day after; and the answer is clear.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“The policy of forcible displacement and mass transfer has been rejected by the entire world. It represents a violation of international law. That policy is still the aim of Israel. It is pursued not only through the statements and calls of the Israeli officials but also through the creation of a new dire reality on the ground in order to expel the Palestinians of Gaza from their land and liquidate their issue by isolating the people from their land and confiscating it. That is happening without the international community preventing it, which has repeatedly failed to put an end to annexation, demolitions, settlement-building and extrajudicial killings, all of which are unlawful practices that are happening amid the silence of the international community and while the occupying State continues them.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“What right of self-defence would allow the occupying force to destroy and repress the lives of the occupied people? Which international laws legitimize self-defence against people languishing under occupation? International law requires that the occupying State respect the occupied peoples’ humanity and meet their basic needs. We and other States in the world have warned against the danger of targeting civilians in the Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli conduct for more than 50 days can be interpreted only as a deliberate policy to make life in the Gaza Strip impossible by targeting civilian and medical facilities and residential buildings and forcing the inhabitants of the north to evacuate towards the south of the Strip, which is already densely populated and has been suffering from a harsh blockade for years.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“The entire health-care system has been targeted. Two thirds of the population have been displaced. Together with the ongoing blockade, there has been starvation, the Israeli crossing points have been closed and humanitarian access has been restricted. Those acts constitute serious and blatant violations of international law and international humanitarian law. It is a true humanitarian tragedy that cannot be justified under any pretext. Yet, surprisingly some States that pretend to defend international legitimacy and human rights refrain from describing what is happening as a violation of international humanitarian law. They simply call for respect for international humanitarian law, and their calls go unanswered. The concept of self-defence cannot be invoked in situations of serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“Mr. Selim (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic): At the outset, allow me to extend my thanks to the People’s Republic of China, the current President of the Security Council, for its relentless efforts to lead the Council at this critical juncture and for supporting the calls to end the current war on Palestinian territory. I also thank the Secretary-General for his valuable briefing. Since the conflict began on 7 October, Egypt has unequivocally and unconditionally condemned at the highest levels the targeting of civilians, regardless of who they are. Despite that, the destruction in the Gaza Strip has reached unprecedented levels. More than 15,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, including 6,000 children and 4,000 women. More than half of the residential buildings in the Strip have been destroyed.”
2023-11-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9489 (2023) · source
“The points I have mentioned represent the least we expect of the Council, which is the principal organ responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security — before it is too late and the current crisis worsens and spills over to other countries of the region and we are forced to return again to the Council to discuss a deeper and bigger crisis than the one we are facing today.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“Fourthly, the Council must ensure the safe, rapid and sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and must ensure that Israel shoulders its international responsibilities as the occupying Power. Fifthly, the Council must reach a binding formula to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the agreed parameters set out in the resolutions of the Security Council and the resolutions of international legitimacy, which provide for the end of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian State on the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Sixthly, the Council must shoulder its responsibilities in working to launch an independent investigation of the flagrant violations of international law and international humanitarian law.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“I call on members today, given that the Council is the highest political organ entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security, to work towards the following actions before it is too late. First, the Council must ensure a sustainable and immediate ceasefire in Gaza, without any conditions. Secondly, the Council must put an end to all the prac- tices that aim to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from their land — which is a grave violation of inter- national humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime. Thirdly, the Council must provide international protection immediately to the defenceless Palestinian people.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“At the same time, they turn a blind eye towards and rush to justify the killing and targeting of civilians and their lives elsewhere, as if the lives of Palestinians civilians were less important than the lives of others and did not deserve the same efforts to protect and defend them. I came to the Council today as a representative of Egypt, which opened the door for peace in the region, to warn of the grave consequences that an international failure to deal with the current crisis and its repercussions will have for the prospects for peace in the region and the aspirations of the peoples of the region for security, coexistence and stability.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“We aimed to reach consensus, even if only in principle, on the de-escalation of conflict with a view to achieving a ceasefire, protecting civilians and ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid while reviving the peace process. We will not rest until this war ends. However, we sincerely regret the double standards on dealing with international crises, especially their humanitarian aspects, that we have seen since the beginning of this crisis. Some are rushing and competing to show sympathy for civilian victims in certain places and condemning in the strongest terms possible those responsible for civilian casualties.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“Indeed, some of what is now being proposed in the Council amounts to a new attempt to justify the continuation of this war, which is inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, which established the Council and enshrined its mandate. For its part, Egypt provided a platform, through the peace summit held in Cairo on 21 October, for Heads of State and Government to try to contain the situation and find a political framework to deal with the crisis instead of giving free rein to destruction, killing and violence. The summit deliberately adopted a depoliticized approach that took into account the urgent humanitarian dimension of this catastrophe.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“Throughout history, the Palestinian question has not died , but it has persisted, based on the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people and their indisputable rights. All that the world has achieved by postponing a solution is more tension and pain in occupied Palestine, in Israel and in the entire region. We observed with regret the Council’s inability, on two occasions, to adopt a draft resolution (see S/PV.9439 and S/PV. 9442) or even to call for a ceasefire to end this war. In the light of this crisis situation, we are also surprised by the new proposal to adopt a draft resolution that does not include a demand for a ceasefire aimed at preventing any further deterioration of the situation, which may lead the region to a dangerous turning point with grave consequences.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“I reiterate what Egypt said at its Cairo peace summit, namely, that the solution to the Palestinian question is not forced displacement or the displacement of an entire people to other regions. Rather, the only solution is to ensure justice by granting the Palestinians their legitimate rights to self-determination and to live in dignity and safety, in their independent State, on their territory, just like the other peoples of the world. The Palestinian people will not leave their land; rather, they will cling to it. Egypt will not accept the forcible displacement of the Palestinian people, and we will not accept any attempt to settle the Palestinian question at the expense of Egypt and other countries in the region. A look at history clearly shows that the Palestinian people, despite the challenges, have remained resilient on their land.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“We have also warned on several occasions of Israel’s continuing and intensifying practices in recent times, especially its persistent attempts to weaken the Palestinian Authority and to suggest that peace is no longer feasible. Israel’s policies of separating the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, its blockade of the Gaza Strip, its military incursions into the towns of the West Bank, its desecration of holy sites and its reneging on any agreements to de-escalate the situation on the ground have all led us to this desperate moment. The resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly over the history of the crisis have reflected an unequivocal and clear consensus that the Palestinian question needs to be voluntarily settled — not imposed by military action or settlements or what we are witnessing today, namely, forced displacement.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“They have to recognize that today’s situation did not appear out of thin air. It is a result of accumulated practices and policies, conducted with the sole aim of entrenching an illegal occupation, usurping land from its rightful owners and imposing a new demographic reality. Egypt has warned time and again of the dangers of mere timid calls for a revival of the peace process and of inaction on the part of the international community, which has failed to use the tools at its disposal to enforce the international consensus on the settlement of the Palestinian question, based on a two-State solution and the relevant Security Council and international legitimacy resolutions.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“In the context of this latest chapter, the efforts to minimize the suffering that the Palestinian people have endured for more than 70 years are a desperate attempt to justify flagrant violations of international law and international humanitarian law and are tantamount to permitting the perpetuation of the unprecedented suffering that has been inflicted on the people of Gaza. Egypt has always condemned the targeting of any civilians. I want to once again affirm that Egypt will not accept the targeting of unarmed civilians by any party, including their capture for use as a bargaining chip. There can be no justification for that. We call for the hostages to be released. Humanity is indivisible, not selective. There are some today who are busy playing a blame game as destruction and death continue unabated.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“There are 2.5 million civilians in Gaza who are being killed, starved and forcibly displaced. The scenes that have unfolded since the crisis began have been heart-wrenching. The children who have lost their lives and those who have lost their parents and siblings do not deserve what is happening to them, and that is unforgivable. They are not responsible for what is happening to them, and our collective conscience cannot tolerate their suffering. Silence at a time like this is a kind of indulgence. Refusing to call things by their real names and merely paying lip service to respect for international humanitarian law, without describing what is happening as an actual violation of that law and of human rights, is tantamount to participating in those crimes.”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“Mr. Selim (Egypt) (spoke in Arabic): The Palestinian territory is enduring horrific events. The victims of Israeli military action against Gaza now number more than 5,000 innocent Palestinian civilians, including more than 2,000 children, in a matter of no more than three weeks. The war machine continues to indiscriminately claim lives without distinction. In the face of that humanitarian shock and the loss of life that we are seeing around the clock, it is regrettable, indeed shameful, that some continue to justify what is happening, citing the right to self-defence and to resist terrorism. Today I want to ask what right a State has to justify a refusal to distinguish between an enemy to be targeted and unarmed civilians destined to live for generations in a specific part of their homeland subject to a blockade?”
2023-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9451Resumption1 (2023) · source
“I call upon my colleagues, brothers and sisters in the Sudan and Ethiopia, to embrace that spirit and redouble our efforts to secure a future of peace and prosperity for our countries and our peoples.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Adopting that draft resolution would reaffirm the Security Council’s resolve to upholding its responsibility to maintain international peace and security and would send an unequivocal signal of reassurance that it remains committed to the peace and prosperity of our African continent — while a failure to take effective action on the question of the GERD would be a disheartening dereliction of duties. Finally, I assure you, Mr. President, and members of the Council that Egypt will exert every effort to reach an agreement on the GERD that upholds the unbreakable bond of brotherhood between our countries and that reflects the timeless kinship among the peoples living along the banks of the Nile River.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Indeed, if anything , the draft resolution aims at implementing and effectuating the outcomes of the two meetings of the Bureau of the African Union Assembly that were held on the matter, which instructed the parties to expeditiously finalize, with the assistance of our partners attending those talks as observers, the text of a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD and called upon them not to take unilateral measures that could jeopardize that process.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Its purpose, which we believe is eminently balanced and constructive, is to relaunch negotiations according to an augmented format that retains and enhances the leadership of the Chairperson of the African Union and that enables our international partners, including the United Nations, to use their expertise in this area to aid our three countries in their quest to conclude, within a reasonable time frame, an equitable agreement on the GERD.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Accordingly, Egypt calls upon the Security Council to adopt the draft resolution on the question of the GERD that was circulated by the Republic of Tunisia. As evident from the text of that draft resolution, we do not expect the Council to formulate solutions to the outstanding legal and technical issues, and neither do we request that the Council impose on the parties the terms of a settlement of a riparian dispute. Rather, the draft resolution is political in nature.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“It is in that spirit that I wish to underscore that, in executing the unique responsibility conferred upon the Security Council to maintain international peace and security, the members of the Council are instructed, pursuant to Article 24 of the Charter, to act on behalf of the general membership of the United Nations and in furtherance of the noble purposes for which the Organization was established and the principles that guide and inspire its work. It therefore behoves the members of the Council to consider the matter that is before us today not from the narrow lens of their respective national interests, but in the light of their collective responsibility to act on behalf of the international community to preserve the peace and uphold the principles of justice and equity.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Our expectation is that the Council will take the necessary measures to ensure that the parties engage in an effective process of negotiations that can yield an agreement that serves our collective interests. Indeed, the people of Egypt — and peoples throughout the region — are watching the deliberations of the Security Council today with great interest and high hope. They look to the United Nations and to the Council as the guarantors of peace and the custodians of the collective will of our human family. They are confident that the Council will not fail in the discharge of its responsibilities in that regard.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“The fact that Egypt has brought this matter — which is of the greatest consequence — to the attention of the Security Council for a second time is a testament to our unshakable faith in the ideals of the Charter of the United Nations as expressed in its Preamble, which affirms our collective commitment to “practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours” and to “unite our strength to maintain international peace and security”. We come here in search of a viable path towards a peaceful, amicable and negotiated solution to this crisis and to avert the dire consequences of our inability to reach a settlement to the matter. Our hope is that the Security Council will recognize the gravity of the situation and fulfil its responsibility to maintain international peace and security.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“That requires the Council to unequivocally call upon the parties to reach an equitable agreement on the GERD, within a defined timeline, and to encourage them to work diligently and with earnestness to achieve that objective forthwith. Otherwise, if its riparian rights are jeopardized, or if its survival is imperilled, Egypt will be left with no alternative but to uphold and protect its inherent right to life, which is guaranteed by the laws and customs of nations and the imperatives of nature.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“It will diminish access to clean drinking water; it could deprive millions of farmers of the water they use to irrigate their fields; it will rob countless families of their income and livelihood; it will destroy thousands of acres of arable land; it will increase desertification and degrade the riparian ecosystem; and it will increase vulnerability to the effects of climate change. That is a situation that Egypt cannot, and will not, tolerate. It is therefore imperative for the international community to exert every effort, including by acting through the Security Council, to pre-empt that eventuality and prevent the GERD from becoming a threat to the very existence of Egypt.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Our estimates and scientific models indicate that this mega-dam can wreak incalculable damage on Egypt, despite the precautionary measures that we have taken in anticipation of Ethiopia’s unilateral filling of the GERD and our tireless efforts at conservation and water reuse. For us, the harm that the GERD might inflict will affect every aspect of the lives of the Egyptian people like a malignant plague. In the absence of an agreement that regulates its filling and operation, the GERD can cause cumulative water shortages in Egypt amounting to 120 billion cubic metres.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“All that Egypt has called for and sought is a binding agreement that includes an insurance policy against the harmful impacts of the GERD on Egypt’s water security by designing a mechanism through which our three countries could cooperate to collectively bear the burden of addressing future periods of drought. Unfortunately, however, Ethiopia remains steadfast in its rejection of any form of agreement that provides any meaningful measure of protection to the interests of downstream States. It is therefore not an overstatement to affirm that for Egypt the GERD is an existential threat.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“We have no independently verifiable guarantees regarding the safety and structural stability of the GERD, and, as such, 150 million Sudanese and Egyptians are condemned by Ethiopia to live under the harrowing spectre of a towering structure that can hold up to 74 billion cubic metres of water without assurances regarding its safety or reliability. Nor do we have any protection against the incalculable damage that the GERD could inflict during future periods of drought. At a time when the river grows dry and the land gets parched under the searing sun, and the livelihood of Egyptians is imperilled, Ethiopia is unwilling to release the waters of the Blue Nile to quench the thirst of the downstream valley. Indeed, that is the crux of the problem.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“We signed the 2015 Agreement on Declaration of Principles on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to affirm our commitment to reaching a fair and equitable agreement on the GERD. We presented a plan to establish a common infrastructure fund to broaden the horizons of cooperation between our countries. We proposed to contribute to the financing of the GERD to turn this dam into a symbol of friendship and brotherhood between our peoples, and we suggested extending our power lines to help energize Ethiopia and assist in its quest for development; and still Ethiopia remained unyielding in its intransigence. As a result, the two downstream States are now left vulnerable to the evils of the GERD.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Throughout those winding and arduous processes and at every juncture of the negotiations, Ethiopia remained implacable. It refused every proposal and rejected every idea presented by Egypt that would have guaranteed that Ethiopia would be able to generate hydropower from the GERD at optimal levels of efficiency while protecting downstream States against the potential harms of this dam. Ethiopia also blocked every compromise formula submitted to us by our international partners and continued to adopt inflexible positions designed to evade and elude any commitment to protect, or even provide minimal safeguards to, the interests of Egypt and the Sudan. Even our efforts to engender confidence and build bridges of trust between our countries came to naught.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Furthermore, despite claiming to support the granting of an enhanced role to our partners who attended the AU-led negotiations as observers, the reality is that during the latest ministerial meeting, held in Kinshasa from April 4 to 6, upon the kind invitation of President Félix Tshisekedi, Ethiopia rejected every proposal submitted by the Sudan and Egypt to augment the AU-led process and expand the role of our partners in order to assist us in reaching an agreement on the GERD. As such, I find it deeply disheartening that I must report to the Security Council that the AU-led process, in its current format, has reached an impasse. A whole year of negotiations was expended in fruitless talks while Ethiopia continued the construction of the GERD and has now reached the point of continuing to unilaterally fill its reservoir.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“More importantly, the practical effect of those Ethiopian proposals is to deny downstream States any meaningful protection against the adverse effects of the GERD and entitle Ethiopia to fill its reservoir and activate its massive turbines without instituting rules to mitigate the harmful impacts of the dam and regulate its operation, thereby posing a grave danger to our rights and interests.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“It repeatedly attempted to redirect the talks towards reaching non-binding arrangements for the filling of the GERD or for the appointment of focal points for the exchange of technical data. While those ideas may appear reasonable to the untrained eye, the reality is that these Ethiopian proposals contravene the instructions of the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union at the summit level, which directed us to agree on the rules governing both the filling and the operation of the GERD.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“However, after a year of faltering negotiations, and despite the highly appreciated good offices and untiring efforts of His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and His Excellency President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during their respective periods as Chair of the African Union, the AU-led process failed to yield the desired agreement. Our three countries were even unable to execute the simple task of compiling a complete text of a zero draft of the GERD agreement that provides a record of their negotiating positions, and countless weeks were exhausted in ineffectual virtual meetings and disagreements on peripheral matters of procedure. More troublingly, throughout this process, Ethiopia effectively derailed the AU-led negotiations.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“We engaged in this AU-led process with a sense of optimism and faith in the ability of our African brethren to facilitate the adoption of an agreement on the GERD. We worked diligently to implement the instructions of the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union at the summit level to reach a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD, and we welcomed the constructive engagement of our partners from the European Union and the United States in that process.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“Egypt also accepted an invitation to participate in negotiations facilitated by the United States of America and the World Bank Group, in which Ethiopia participated fully and freely, and that led to the drafting — after 12 rounds of intensive negotiations — of a comprehensive agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD, which Egypt signed but which Ethiopia rejected. We also engaged in negotiations held upon an invitation from His Excellency the Prime Minister of the Sudan, which, despite the significant progress achieved, were ultimately undermined by Ethiopian intransigence. Moreover, for a whole year, since the previous meeting convened by the Security Council on the question of the GERD, Egypt participated actively in the negotiations led by the African Union.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“For a whole decade, we explored every avenue and exhausted every opportunity to conclude a document that would enable Ethiopia to fill and operate the GERD while mitigating its harmful downstream impacts. We sought an agreement that would become an instrument of regional integration and collaboration and that would herald a new era of cooperation among our three countries. We sought an agreement through years of fruitless trilateral negotiations during which Ethiopia effectively torpedoed our efforts to undertake joint studies on the socioeconomic impacts of the GERD and to assess its environmental impacts, and, as a result of Ethiopia’s obstructionism, we now have no impartial scientific record of the adverse effects of this mega-dam.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“This policy was put into practice when the Prime Minister of Ethiopia announced, on 30 May 2021, that his country plans to construct over a hundred dams over the coming fiscal year without even the slightest mention of the interests or equities of its co-riparians, as if Ethiopia holds exclusive proprietary rights over the Nile and the other rivers that it shares with its neighbours, which was especially apparent in the damage inflicted by Ethiopia on Lake Turkana in Kenya. Despite Ethiopia’s persistent pattern of bad faith and in spite of its incessant unilateralism, Egypt continued to negotiate in good faith and with a genuine political will to reach an equitable agreement.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“However, Egypt expects and indeed demands that its upstream co-riparian complies with its international legal obligations, which require it to prevent the infliction of significant harm against the interests of its downstream neighbours. Ethiopia is also seeking to use the GERD negotiations as a backdoor through which to consecrate an unlimited and an unregulated right to construct future projects along the Blue Nile and has demanded that its co-riparians sign a hydrological blank check that grants it unrestricted control of the river. This was expressed in no uncertain terms in a letter dated 8 January 2021 from Ethiopia’s Minister of Water in which he stated, “Ethiopia does not have an obligation emanating from law or practice to acquire agreement from downstream countries to construct the GERD or any future water development project”.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“It has even objected to calling the instrument being negotiated an “agreement”; it has proposed to designate the text as merely “guidelines and rules”. Ethiopia has refused to include any form of binding dispute resolution provisions and insists on codifying an unlimited right to alter and amend the GERD agreement whenever it so desires. Ethiopia has sought to justify these unreasonable positions by invoking some mythical injustice that had been wrought upon it by so-called colonial treaties or by an unfair status quo. Nothing can be further from the truth. Ethiopia was never a colony and has never concluded a treaty relating to the Nile under the threat of coercion or compulsion. Moreover, Egypt has never objected to Ethiopia’s right to harness the resources of the Blue Nile.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source
“It reveals that Ethiopia is operating under the assumption that it is engaging in negotiations on the GERD out of comity or charity. Ethiopia has conveniently decided to ignore the realities of geography and appears to be under the illusion that the Blue Nile is an internal river that it can exploit to its exclusive benefit. And it seems to presume that this watercourse, which freely and naturally flows to the territories of its co-riparians, can be subjected to its sovereignty and placed under its dominion. This unfortunate posture has thwarted every effort to reach an agreement and has been echoed in the positions that Ethiopia has adopted throughout a decade of negotiations. For instance, Ethiopia refuses to sign a legally binding agreement.”
2021-07-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8816 (2021) · source