Egypt says it 'will not allow' Ethiopia to build new Nile River dams

Egypt "will not allow" Ethiopia to build new dams on the Nile River, Irrigation Minister Hani Sewilam has said amid a long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).Sewilam's remarks came about two weeks after media reports said that Ethiopia is planning to build three additional dams on the Nile alongside the GERD."It is well known that Ethiopia has plans to build new dams, but will the Egyptian state allow that? No," Sewilam said at a press conference in Cairo, as cited by local media.He stressed that Egypt has repeatedly called for a clear and legally binding mechanism for exchanging operational data on the GERD to enable downstream countries Egypt and Sudan to know expected water releases and annual operating plans.The absence of such information places Sudan in an "extremely difficult position," preventing Sudanese authorities from effectively operating their own dams or managing water storage without accurate data on…