Ethiopia condemns Trump remark that Egypt will ‘blow up’ dam
LA TimesU.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, center right, walks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed after meeting in Addis Ababa in February. Ethiopia on Saturday denounced “belligerent threats” over the huge dam it has nearly completed on the Blue Nile River, a day after President Trump said that Egypt will “blow up” the project it has called an existential threat. Ethiopia’s foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador to seek clarification, saying that “the incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt from a sitting U.S. president neither reflects the longstanding partnership and strategic alliance between Ethiopia and the United States nor is acceptable in international law governing interstate relations,” a statement said. Without naming Trump or the U.S., Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office issued a separate critical statement amid an outcry in Ethiopia over Trump’s latest threat over the dam. “Occasional statements of belligerent threats to have Ethiopia succumb to unfair terms still abound,” the statement by the Ethiopian prime minister’s office said.