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Khartoum / Addis Ababa / Cairo / Tshwane – Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt are ready to resume negotiations on the filling and operation of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam today under the auspices of the African Union.
To resume trilateral negotiations between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the respective Foreign and Irrigation Ministers of the three countries will hold a meeting of ambassadors later today at the invitation of the current president of the African Union, South Africa. The videoconference, sponsored by the African Union, takes place almost two months after previous negotiations reached a dead end.
Sudan’s Irrigation Minister Yasir Abbas affirmed Sudan’s commitment to the negotiations and its goal of reaching a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD. However, in a letter addressed to the South African Minister for International Cooperation, Abbas called for a new approach to the negotiations. He explained that Sudan cannot continue negotiations using the same methods that guided previous rounds of negotiations, which failed to reach any binding agreement. He therefore requested support for the upcoming negotiations in the form of a new mandate from the members of the African Union Commission.
Negotiations are expected to resume a week after US President Donald Trump called the situation “really dangerous” and warned that “Cairo could blow up that dam” during a call with Sudanese and Israeli leaders. on the normalization of relations with Israel (between the US, Egypt and Ethiopia and provoked a firm response from the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, who claimed that “these threats and affronts to Ethiopian sovereignty are misguided, unproductive violations and clear of international law “and that” Ethiopia will not give in to attacks of any kind “, as stated in a Reuters report.
The construction of the GERD has become a more important and controversial issue after Sudan suffered the worst Nile floods in 30 years, severely affecting much of the country and killing 115.
Mega dam
In March 2011, Ethiopia announced its plans to build a large dam on the Blue Nile, in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, about 15 to 40 kilometers east of the border with Sudan, as a jointly owned and operated project by the three. countries. Egypt and Sudan vehemently opposed the proposal. They claimed adverse effects on their rights and interests over the Nile water.
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Later, Khartoum softened its position. Cairo, however, has warned that Ethiopia will not be able to unilaterally fill the dam without consequences.
Egypt depends on the Nile for more than 90% of its water. The Blue Nile contributes about 85 percent of the volume of the main Nile River.
In March 2015, countries signed a Declaration of Principles in Khartoum as the basis for negotiations, but since then no progress has been made in the use of the waters of the Nile.
Addis Ababa began filling the reservoir in August, after repeatedly indicating that, even without an agreement, it would. This sparked new speculation about whether the three countries will be able to find common ground.
The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), when completed in 2022, will have a reservoir with a volume of more than 74 billion cubic meters and a hydroelectric generation capacity of 6,450 megawatts.
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