In it, he said that he would rather die than hand over power.. Ethiopia accuses the Egyptian media of fabricating a leak on Abi Ahmed

The Ethiopian News Agency accused the Egyptian media of engaging in misinformation, after publishing an audio recording attributed to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in which he says that he “will not give up power for the next 10 years, and that he would rather die than hand over power.”

The official agency denied the authenticity of what was stated in the audio leak published by the English-language government website “Ahram Online”, saying that it was “false information that was fabricated through misleading audio software, and false statements of the Prime Minister were published in separate events.”

She explained that media outlets operating in Ethiopia also confirmed by investigating the various original audio clips from their archives, and the audio published by the media agency “Kilo Media”, is a complete fabrication that was pieced together from different speeches made by the Prime Minister in separate events.

The

agency quoted (unidentified) observers that the Ahram Online website aims to create a state of instability in Ethiopia, to achieve the agenda of the authorities in Egypt, which is represented in the lack of understanding regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

For a while, Sudan and Egypt have been conducting intensive military maneuvers, which raised speculation that the two countries might resort to another option if Ethiopia stuck to its position, in light of faltering negotiations within a 10-year crisis.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas warned that the dam would turn into “grave dangers” if a binding agreement was not signed between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Addis Ababa usually says that it does not aim to harm the interests of Sudan or Egypt, and that the main objective of building the dam is to generate electricity for development purposes.

A few days ago, Khartoum accused Addis Ababa of starting procedures in preparation for a second filling of the dam with water in July and August.

About a year after the first filling, Ethiopia insists on the second filling, even if it did not reach an agreement on the dam on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile.

While Sudan and Egypt insist on reaching an agreement first on filling and operating the dam, in order to preserve their water facilities and to ensure the continued flow of their annual share of the Nile water.