The White House is pushing for an agreement by the end of February, but Egyptian and Ethiopian officials warn it will not be easy. Trump, playing on his self-image as a deal maker, has suggested that his efforts might merit a Nobel Prize. In November, in a last-ditch effort, the talks moved to Washington, where the White House has been mediating. They worry that, if the dam in Ethiopia is filled too quickly, it could drastically curtail their water supply. Ninety-five percent of Egyptians live along the Nile or in its teeming delta, and the river provides nearly all of their water. “The Nile is a question of life, a matter of existence to Egypt,” President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said at the United Nations last September.įor eight years, officials from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan - which lies between the two countries - squabbled fruitlessly over the dam.
