Addis Ababa - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has summoned United States Ambassador Ervin Masinga following controversial remarks by US President Donald Trump concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the ongoing Nile River dispute with Egypt.
During a televised address on Monday, President Trump stated that his administration is “working on” the Nile dispute, adding that Ethiopia is “blocking the Nile River” and expressing sympathy toward Egypt’s concerns.
“If I were Egypt, I would like to have water in the Nile River,” he said. “They built one of the largest dams in the world outside of Egypt… that has become a big problem.”
The comments prompted an official diplomatic response from Addis Ababa. Ambassador Hadera Abera, State Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, summoned Ambassador Masinga for urgent consultations.
According to a senior diplomatic source who spoke to Fortune on condition of anonymity, the meeting was “focused on clarifying Ethiopia’s position and correcting several misrepresentations made in President Trump’s statements.”
A brief note confirming the engagement was published on the Ministry’s official Facebook page moments before this report went to press.
President Trump further claimed that the United States had financially contributed to the dam’s construction and emphasized the Nile’s strategic importance to Egypt, describing it as “its lifeblood.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in contrast, welcomed Trump’s remarks in a social media post, praising the US leader’s “genuine interest in resolving the issue.”
Ethiopia’s federal leadership has yet to issue a formal response. For over a decade, Ethiopia has sought international financing for the GERD, a flagship hydropower project on the Blue Nile.
Citing persistent geopolitical pressure from Egypt, authorities opted to self-finance the project, which is now slated for inauguration this September.