Egypt's president has sought to defuse tensions with Ethiopia and Sudan, reassuring them that his country is not meddling in their internal affairs or planning to go to war against them.

In televised comments Monday, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Egypt's strategic choice is not to go to war. "I am saying this as a clear message to our brothers in Sudan and Ethiopia."

Egypt has expressed mounting alarm over a soon-to-be-completed dam in Ethiopia that Cairo fears could cut into its share of the Nile River, which provides nearly all its freshwater.

Sudan has meanwhile revived a longtime border dispute with Egypt. Egypt in turn accuses Sudan of siding with Ethiopia in the dam dispute and conspiring with Qatar and Turkey against it.