Egyptian president rejects foreign interference in African affairs, urges cooperation on shared rivers

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday reaffirmed his country's rejection of foreign interference in African affairs and called for coordination in managing cross-border rivers.

Speaking at the opening of the African Union's eighth midyear coordination meeting with regional economic communities in Egypt's northwestern city of El Alamein, Sisi said relations across the continent must rest on mutual respect and good neighborliness, according to an Egyptian presidency statement.

He urged African countries to move beyond unilateral policies and narrow interests, stressing that respect for sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity is essential to the continent's stability.

"Egypt reaffirms its firm rejection of any external interference in the internal affairs of African states," he said.

Sisi called for cross-border issues, including the management of natural resources and shared rivers, to serve as opportunities for cooperation and dialogue rather than competition and confrontation.

"The sustainable management of shared resources, particularly water, represents a real test of African countries' ability to integrate," he said.

While affirming every country's right to development, Sisi stressed that this right must be exercised responsibly and without harming other states.

"Egypt, given its location and the needs of its people, recognizes the importance of the water issue," he said, adding that cooperation on shared rivers must be based on international law, consultation, coordination, good neighborliness and the principle of avoiding harm.

The Nile Basin encompasses 11 countries: Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.

Egypt and Sudan oppose the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement, also known as the Entebbe Agreement, and maintain that earlier agreements governing the use of Nile waters must be respected. Both countries reject unilateral measures that could affect their water shares.

Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam over the Blue Nile has been a major source of disagreement with Egypt and Sudan for more than a decade.

Cairo and Khartoum fear the dam could affect their water supplies and have demanded a legally binding agreement on its filling and operation. Ethiopia says the project is intended to support development and does not seek to harm the two downstream countries.

Sisi's remarks come amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt.

Addis Ababa closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats, while Eritrea severed diplomatic relations with Addis Ababa. Ethiopia also expelled an Egyptian diplomat, prompting Cairo to expel an Ethiopian diplomat in response.

Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry did not give a reason for the move involving Egypt, although Addis Ababa had suggested about a week earlier that Cairo might be intervening in the conflict between the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

In late September, Ethiopian army chief Birhanu Jula accused foreign powers of supporting armed groups to destabilize his country, hinting at involvement by Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea. Egypt's Foreign Ministry subsequently denied interfering in any country's internal affairs.

Turning to the economy, Sisi called for the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which entered into force in 2019 during Egypt's chairmanship of the African Union.

He said the agreement could help build a continental market, expand intra-African trade, support industrialization and technology transfer, and create jobs.

"Africa should not remain merely a supplier of raw materials that it later imports as finished products," he said, calling for integrated value chains across the continent and stronger production and manufacturing capacity.

Sisi urged African countries to make economic integration a practical driver of growth.