Cairo, 17 January (H.S.): US President Donald Trump informed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday of his readiness to revive American mediation efforts aimed at resolving the long-standing dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa's largest hydropower project.

In a letter posted on social media by the White House, Trump positioned the GERD at the very top of my agenda, stressing that no regional state should monopolize Nile resources to the detriment of its neighbors. He envisioned a balanced formula ensuring predictable water flows for downstream Egypt and Sudan while permitting Ethiopia to sell or donate electricity generated by the $4 billion facility, inaugurated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in September.

Trump's overture marks a departure from his first-term rhetoric, when he inflamed tensions by suggesting Egypt might bomb the dam, prompting diplomatic protests from both Addis Ababa and Cairo. Prior mediation attempts by the United States, World Bank, Russia, United Arab Emirates, and African Union have collapsed over the past decade, leaving the dam—a potent symbol of Ethiopian national pride—as a flashpoint.

Egypt, reliant on the Nile for 97 percent of its freshwater, views the project as an existential peril, while Sisi enjoys a close rapport with Trump, who once dubbed the former general my favorite dictator.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar