The leaders of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt agreed that Ethiopia will delay filling a mega-dam on the Blue Nile and return to talks aimed at reaching an agreement on the use of the river’s waters, according to statements by Cairo and Khartoum.
The announcement Friday night was a modest postponement of weeks of bellicose rhetoric and mounting tensions over the $ 4.6 billion Ethiopian Great Renaissance dam, which Ethiopia had promised to start filling at the start of the rainy season in July.
There were no immediate comments from Ethiopia on the deal, beyond a tweet from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that described a discussion at the African Union (AU) summit on the dam as “fruitful.”
Ethiopia has articulated its development ambitions in the megaproject, describing the dam as a crucial lifeline to lift millions out of poverty. Egypt, which depends on the Nile for more than 90 percent of its water supplies and is already facing high water stress, fears a devastating impact on its growing population of 100 million.
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Egypt asks UN to intervene after deadlock in Nile dam talks (2:14) |
Sudan, which also depends on the Nile for water, has played a key role in bringing the two sides together after the collapse of the US-mediated talks in February.
After a UA videoconference chaired by South Africa on Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said “all parties” had pledged not to take “any unilateral action” by filling the dam without a final agreement, according to state media.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok also indicated that the stagnation among the countries of the Nile basin had decreased, saying that the countries had agreed to restart negotiations through a technical committee with the aim of finalizing an agreement in two weeks.
Ethiopia will not fill the dam before signing the long-awaited agreement, Hamdok said in a statement, adding: “Sudan is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the dam and also one of the biggest losers if the risks are not mitigated, so Egypt and Ethiopia urgently face the imminent need … to find a solution. “
Moussa Faki Mahamat, president of the AU, said that the countries “agreed on a process led by the AU to solve the pending problems”, without giving more details.
Key points in the talks have been the amount of water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam if a multi-year drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disagreements.
Both Egypt and Sudan have called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene in the dispute for years and help countries avoid a crisis. The council is slated to hold a public meeting on the matter on Monday.
Filling the dam without an agreement could lead the confrontation to a critical juncture. Both Egypt and Ethiopia have hinted at military measures to protect their interests, and experts fear that a collapse in the talks could lead to open conflict.
Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Center for Strategic Studies in Africa based at the National Defense University, called Ethiopia’s shift in position “significant.”
“The Ethiopian agreement to wait is a big pause, in terms of the pressure that was building up in this discussion,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that he hoped to see a resolution soon.
“Ethiopia is under pressure because the next two months are the rainy season. The downstream dams, including the Aswan High Dam, are at capacity,” Siegle said. “So this is really a good time to start filling the dam. It would less affect Egypt. Therefore, Egypt has some incentive to accept this happening right now. At best, they will return to the table of negotiations and they will reach a quick agreement and then move forward. “
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
