Ethiopia Dam Talks Failure Reflects Deep Divisions: Former Egypt Water Minister



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The results of the latest dam negotiations in Ethiopia reflect deep divisions between the three countries involved, according to Egypt’s former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mohamed Nasr Allam.

The most recent round of talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan ended with no consensus on the disputed points over the filling and operation of the Ethiopian dam.

On Friday, the water resources and irrigation ministers of the three countries met virtually, but later announced that they had failed to reach an agreement on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), an Egyptian statement said.

The ministers agreed that each country will send a separate letter to the current president of the African Union (AU), South Africa, setting out their respective views on the negotiations.

According to the statement from the Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, the parties are expected to meet again on September 14.

Ethiopia’s mega-dam’s technical-legal committee had planned to prepare an initial draft of points agreed upon and disputed between the parties involved. The initial plan was to provide a report on the results of their work to South Africa, but this plan was canceled due to a lack of tripartite consensus.

Allam pointed out that the GERD parties cannot formulate a single document on the points in dispute due to the aggravated level of contention, with the current period “the time to review the situation and the feasibility of resuming this course of talks.”

“It is clear that there is a limited level of conflict on the technical side compared to the disputes over the legal and political points,” Allam noted.

On Saturday, Ethiopian Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Seleshi Bekele, said the talks had seen some progress. Writing on his official Twitter account, Bekele noted: “The GERD negotiation over the past two weeks made some progress, not yet completed, to present the expected draft agreement. We look forward to meeting again on September 14, 2020. ”

In the presence of observers from the AU Assembly Bureau, together with representatives of the AU member states, the US and the EU, the current round of meetings occurs in accordance with the results of the ministerial meeting of 16 of August. This was carried out between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources of the three countries.

The results of the July 21 mini-summit, which brought together leaders from the three parties together with South Africa, have also provided information for the ongoing talks.





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