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CAIRO – Egypt said on Wednesday that it has backed a Sudanese proposal to internationalize arbitration in a years-long dispute with Ethiopia over a massive dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Cairo supports the formation of an “international quartet” that includes the United States, the European Union, the UN and the African Union to facilitate reaching an agreement on filling and operation of the Great Renaissance Dam of Ethiopia.
The dispute centers on how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs and how the three countries would resolve any future disputes. Egypt and Sudan also call for a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam, while Ethiopia insists on the guidelines.
Shoukry said Egypt wants to develop the negotiating mechanism to reach a “legally binding agreement as soon as possible.”
He announced Egypt’s position during a meeting on Wednesday in Cairo with Alphonse Ntumba Luaba, coordinating the current leadership of the African Union Democratic Republic of the Congo.
There were no immediate comments from Washington, Brussels or the UN.
Sudan announced its proposal earlier this year after the AU-led talks made no progress. Since then, Khartoum has spoken out against Ethiopia’s plans to start the second filling during the upcoming rainy season.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said earlier this month that the dam threatens at least 20 million Sudanese, about half of the country’s population.
Sudan wants Ethiopia to coordinate and share data on the operation of the dam to prevent flooding and protect its own power-generating dams on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile River. The Blue Nile meets the White Nile in the center of Sudan, from where the Nile winds north through Egypt and into the Mediterranean Sea.
There were no comments from Ethiopia that would have led to a US-led attempt to mediate the dispute, claiming bias. The government of former US President Donald Trump sanctioned Ethiopia last year for the first filling of the dam before reaching an agreement with Egypt and Sudan.
On Friday, the administration of US President Joe Biden said it had untied sanctions from the dam dispute.
About 85% of the Nile’s flow originates from Ethiopia. Officials expect the dam, now more than three-quarters complete, to reach its maximum power-generating capacity in 2023, helping to lift millions of people out of poverty.
Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world with more than 100 million inhabitants, has called the dam an existential threat and is concerned that it will reduce its share of the waters of the Nile. The country relies almost entirely on the Nile to supply water for agriculture and its people.
