Egypt’s Water Off Limits, Sisi Says, in Message to Ethiopia

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi warned Tuesday that any attempt to take “a drop of Egypt’s water” would have a destabilizing effect on the whole region, in some of his strongest remarks yet as Ethiopia plans to push ahead with filling a contentious Nile dam.

El-Sisi, speaking alongside the Suez Canal in events marking the freeing of a giant container ship that had been stuck for nearly a week, said that he wasn’t issuing threats and was hopeful about reaching a legally binding agreement on filling and operating the Renaissance Dam. At the same time, he said that if anyone wanted to take any of Egypt’s water, “let them try.”