Egypt says it will not allow any party to control Nile water flows

CAIRO — Egypt “will not accept or allow” any party to control the flow of Nile water to downstream countries, an Egyptian source said Sunday, responding to recent remarks by Ethiopia’s water and energy minister about plans to build additional dams on the river.The source, quoted by Egypt’s official MENA news agency, said statements attributed to Ethiopian Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Itefa regarding the construction of additional dams and control over water flows to Egypt and Sudan represented “a continuation of Ethiopia’s unilateral approach and a blatant violation of international law.”The remarks reflect “Addis Ababa’s continued delusions that it can impose control over a shared international river and subject it to the will of a single country,” the source said.“The Egyptian state has multiple and wide-ranging tools capable of defending the interests of the Egyptian people in the Nile,” the source added, without elaborating on what measures could be taken.Egypt “will not accept or allow any party to control water flows to downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan,” the source stressed.