The Prime Minister of Ethiopia: The second filling of the “Renaissance Dam” is scheduled for next July

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the second filling of the Renaissance Dam is scheduled for the rainy season next July.

“We do not wish to harm the water interests of Egypt and Sudan,” he added in a speech to Parliament on Tuesday.

Despite Addis Ababa’s rejection of Sudan’s proposal to form an international quartet, Abiy Ahmed said, “Ethiopia renews its demand for mediation by the African Union in the negotiations.”

A few days ago, Ambassador Ahmed Hafez, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to the statements of the Ethiopian Foreign and Irrigation Ministers during the conference held in Addis Ababa yesterday, March 17, 2021, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary. of the inauguration of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, said that these statements, which confirmed Ethiopia’s intention to complete the filling of the Renaissance Dam, even if no agreement has been reached on the rules for filling and operating the dam, reveal once again Ethiopia’s intention and desire to impose a fait accompli on the two downstream countries, which is rejected by Egypt due to the threat it poses to the interests of the Egyptian and Sudanese peoples and the impact of such measures. unilateral in the security and stability of the country.

The spokesperson added that it is regrettable that Ethiopian officials use the language of sovereignty in their conversations about exploiting the resources of a river that crosses borders. International rivers are the joint property of the riparian states and it is not allowed to extend sovereignty over them or try to monopolize them. Rather, they must use these natural resources to serve the people of the countries that share them. Based on the norms of international law, the most important of which are the principles of cooperation, fairness and no harm.

The Spokesperson also indicated that these statements by Ethiopia were issued at a time when the sister Democratic Republic of the Congo, which assumed the presidency of the African Union, is making appreciable efforts to relaunch the path of negotiations and reach an agreement before the next flood season. , which reflects Ethiopia’s lack of political will to negotiate. In order to reach a settlement to the crisis of the Renaissance dam, adding that Egypt and Sudan highlighted the importance of the active participation of the international community in the negotiations led and led by the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a quartet. which includes the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, to ensure the effectiveness of the negotiation process and push the three countries forward and help them reach an agreement on the Renaissance dam in the coming months.