By David Malingha
INTERNATIONAL - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved plans to halt some aid to Ethiopia as part of its effort to mediate a dispute over a dam on the Nile River that’s pitted the Horn of Africa nation against Egypt and Sudan, Foreign Policy reported.
The decision could affect about $130 million of assistance to programs including security, counter-terrorism and anti-human trafficking, the news website said, without saying where it got the information. The cuts won’t impact funding for emergency humanitarian relief, food assistance or health programs, it said.
The State Department didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Ethiopia and Egypt are at an impasse over how the dam on a tributary of the Nile will be managed. Egypt, which depends on the Nile River for most of its fresh-water needs, is opposed to any development it says will impact the flow downstream -- a position echoed by Sudan. Ethiopia is developing a 6,000-megawatt power plant at the dam, and has asserted a right to use the resource for its development.
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