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LONDON: The Archbishop of Canterbury, probably the most senior determine within the Church of England, has referred to as on Ethiopia to restart talks with Egypt and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The Most Rev. Justin Welby was talking at an occasion in Egypt inaugurating a brand new episcopal province on Friday, the place he stated that pure sources “weren’t the only property of particular person nations.”

The GERD, damming a stretch of the Blue Nile, has been a supply of rigidity between the three African states for a while, with Egypt and Sudan fearing the influence it should have on very important water provides downstream.

The dam will likely be Africa’s largest supply of hydroelectricity, however Cairo and Khartoum have accused Addis Ababa of breaking worldwide regulation by persevering with to fill it with out their approval.

There have even been ideas that Egypt may launch airstrikes towards Ethiopia if a decision isn’t met.

“I attraction to the Ethiopian authorities to indicate that they are going to use the dam responsibly, caring for his or her neighbors downstream,” Welby stated. “Please present that this dam isn’t a purpose to fret.”

The brand new episcopal province of the Anglican Church Welby inaugurated is predicated in Alexandria, masking Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Eritrea, Somalia, Mauritania, Chad and Djibouti, and serving round 40,000 worshipers.

“The province covers an enormous space, from the waves of the Atlantic to the seashores of the Purple Sea and the Indian Ocean,” Welby stated in his sermon at All Saint’s Cathedral in Cairo. “A thousand years in the past, this space preserved medication and studying. Right now, Egypt has once more discovered its historic place as a spot of assembly, of refuge.”

Egypt has an extended historical past of Christian worship, with greater than 9 million worshipers dwelling there. Most are Coptic Christians, a non secular minority that has confronted persecution lately. Nevertheless, Welby praised the efforts of the North African nation to enhance relations between its disparate spiritual communities.

“Christians are to be a part of a church that’s informed to overcome with love and peace — by no means, by no means by a sword, a bomb or a plot,” Welby stated. “And I say to our pricey, pricey pals from the Islamic neighborhood: How typically have Christians received this unsuitable? Our historical past is without doubt one of the tragic sin of drive. Allow us to be folks of peace collectively.”

The archbishop is anticipated to go to a refugee charity over the weekend, Refuge Egypt, as a part of his journey, earlier than returning to the UK on Monday.