Egypt slams Ethiopia's plan to construct 100 new dams

Egypt has condemned a new plan by Ethiopia to construct over 100 new dams.

On Sunday Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed revealed that the dams would be built in different regions of the country during the next financial year.

Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez on Monday said that the plan showed bad faith on Addis Ababa's part amid an ongoing dispute over Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam, which Egypt fears could deprive it of life-giving water. 

Hafez said that the plan showed that the Ethiopia authorities were treating rivers they shared with other countries, including the Nile, "as if they were internal rivers subject to their sovereignty and harnessed to serve their interests."

He added that while Egypt respected the right of other Nile basin countries to harness water resources to achieve economic development, "these water projects and facilities must be established after coordination, consultation and agreement with the countries that may be affected by them, in the forefront of which are the downstream countries". 

Hafez said that the Ethiopian prime minister's announcement was "nothing but a continuation of the unfortunate Ethiopian approach that disregards the applicable rules of international law".

Ethiopia says that the Great Renaissance Dam is essential to provide electricity to its population and lift millions of people out of poverty.

It has accused Egypt and Sudan of trying to "monopolize" the Nile River.