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Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on Saturday launched a new round of African Union (AU) -mediated talks on the disputed Ethiopian Great Renaissance Dam project on the Blue Nile, which downstream nations fear could lead to further development. lack of water.
The three-day talks organized by President Felix Tshisekedi are taking place in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the current president of the AU.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Cairo wants the negotiations to eventually lead to a legally binding agreement on the operation and filling of the huge reservoir of the dam.
The foreign and irrigation ministers of the three nations are attending the talks, along with experts from the AU, according to Ethiopian Irrigation Minister Seleshi Bekele.
Sudan said it will participate in the Kinshasa round with the aim of agreeing on a “negotiating approach” to ensure the talks are constructive. That would include an Egyptian-backed Sudanese proposal to include the United States, the European Union and the United Nations as mediators alongside the AU, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Ethiopia has rejected the proposal, saying it “believes in solving African problems by the Africans.”
The Nile, the longest river in the world, is a livelihood that supplies water and electricity to the 10 countries it crosses, with the Blue Nile being its main tributary. Upstream Ethiopia says the hydroelectric power produced by the dam will be vital to meeting the energy needs of its 110 million people. Egypt, which relies on the Nile for about 97 percent of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as an existential threat.
The dispute centers on the rate at which a planned reservoir behind the dam fills, the method of its annual replenishment, and the amount of water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs. Another point of difference is how the three countries would resolve any future disputes.
Egypt and Sudan want a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam, while Ethiopia insists on the guidelines.
The talks in Kinshasa come a few days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said that part of the waters of his country’s Nile River was “untouchable”, a stern warning apparently for Ethiopia, to be It is preparing for another stage of filling the dam later this year.
El-Sissi warned Tuesday of “instability that no one can imagine” in the region if the dam is filled and operated without a legally binding agreement.
Bekele, the Ethiopian minister, said his country “as always is determined to use principles based, equitable and reasonable without causing significant harm,” according to Ethiopia’s official news agency.
Egypt is a mostly desert country that relies on the Nile for almost all of its water needs. He fears that a rapid filling would drastically reduce the flow of the Nile, with potentially serious effects on his agriculture and other sectors.
Ethiopia says the $ 5 billion dam is essential, arguing that the vast majority of its population lacks electricity. The dam will generate more than 6,400 megawatts of electricity, a massive boost to the country’s current production of 4,000 megawatts.
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 there, the Nile winds north through Egypt and empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
