Ex-oil Minister Ezekiel Lol Warns Kiir Against Losing Ethiopia, Whole region for ‘one’ Egypt

Addis Ababa, July 20, 2022 (Walta) – South Sudan’s former minister of petroleum Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth has warned President Salva Kiir against being bullied into ending friendship with the whole region and neighboring Ethiopia for ‘one’ Egypt which he said does not have a common border with the world’s youngest country.

Speaking to a group of people at a Hotel in Juba, Gatkuoth who was once a South Sudan ambassador to the United States claimed that the Egyptian government is the one paying experts who were conducting the recently closed public consultation and awareness on Nile water management.

“Why Egypt is the one paying? They are the one paying experts and they are the one bringing machines and they have interest in the Nile,” Gatkuoth claimed.

The former senior government official further claimed that dredging will result in a diplomatic spat with regional countries as well as Ethiopia ganging up against South Sudan which he said should be avoided by severing ties with Egypt.

“And why Egypt is building dam (Aswan High Dam) blocking water from going into Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, Why? Let them open it and let the water go to Red Sea and then go to America, would they accept this? No, it doesn’t need science,” he said.

“What about the countries along the Nile River, have you consulted them? No, that will create a diplomatic row between you and the rest of the region and the whole world. And the region, it doesn’t need science. Will you afford to lose Ethiopia and the whole region for one person,” Gatkuoth added referring to Egypt.

He said that “As a diplomat, I know diplomacy is about you promoting your interests regionally and also on the world [stage]. I have been doing diplomacy.”

Source: Sudan Post