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A satellite image brochure shows a close-up view of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia on June 26, 2020. Satellite image © 2020 Maxar Technologies via REUTERS
CAIRO – November 1, 2020: The tripartite talks between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the controversial Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) begin on Sunday.
Sunday’s talks come in light of the results of a tripartite meeting held on October 27, 2020 between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Water of the three countries under the presidency of Jay Bandura, the Minister of International Cooperation of the Republic. from South Africa.
During this week-long round, the three countries would discuss a clear and detailed agenda and tight timetable for the path of negotiation, according to a statement from Sudan’s Eater Resources Ministry.
The talks resume after a 7-month hiatus under the auspices of the African Union.
The conflict between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia dates back to May 2011, when Ethiopia began building the dam; Egypt expressed concern about its involvement in the water [55.5 billion cubic meters]. Three years later, a series of tripartite talks between the two countries together with Sudan began to reach an agreement, while Ethiopia continued with the construction of the dam.
In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles, according to which downstream countries should not be adversely affected by the construction of the dam. In October 2019, Egypt blamed Addis Ababa for obstructing a final agreement on a technical problem, and called for the activation of Article 10 of the Declaration of Principles, which stipulates that if the three countries cannot find a solution to these disputes, they must ask for mediation.
Washington had negotiated a tripartite discussion between the three countries, in the presence of the president of the World Bank (WB) from November 6, 2019 until February 27 and 28, 2020, when Ethiopia apologized for being absent from the negotiations. During these rounds of talks, the three parties agreed on tangible results on the rules and operating mechanism of the dam and the process of filling the reservoir during drought and prolonged drought; however, the Ethiopian and the Sudanese refused to sign the agreement drawn up by the United States and the World Bank.
