Ethiopia confirmed on Monday that it “seeks to negotiate with Egypt and Sudan in order to find a solution to the Renaissance Dam crisis, especially in light of this sensitive stage that is witnessing turmoil in a number of countries in the Middle East.”
Advisor to the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy Mohamed Laroussi, in statements with the Arab World News Agency (AWP), ruled out “a complete agreement between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan during a new round of talks on the Renaissance Dam in Addis Ababa later this month,” saying that “it is too early to talk about the Ethiopian agenda in this round of negotiations.”
“It is difficult to predict the results of this round of negotiations, and we believe that it is not an easy task, and perhaps we can make progress on many files, but this progress does not necessarily mean finding a full consensus, as it may take a long time until we reach this consensus,” Aroussi said.
He pointed out that “Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had agreed in Cairo last July, on the need to activate the negotiating process and announced their serious desire to reach solutions,” pointing out that “the negotiators have so far failed to reach any solutions, and this round will try to avoid factors of failure, and it will be through the proposal of logical solutions that preserve the mutual interests of the three countries.”
Last month, the third round of GERD negotiations, which came according to the agreement between the Egyptian and Ethiopian leaderships and with the participation of Sudan, ended without announcing tangible progress “according to observers,” and the fourth and final round is expected to be held in Addis Ababa in the coming weeks.
It should be noted that the holding of negotiating rounds began in Cairo on August 27 and 28, based on the agreement of the countries to expedite the completion of the agreement on the rules for filling and operating the Renaissance Dam within 4 months, following the meeting of the leaders of Egypt and Ethiopia on July 13.
In a statement published on September 10, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry considered Ethiopia’s announcement of the completion of the fourth filling of the GERD reservoir a “violation” of the Declaration of Principles signed between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan in 2015.
The Egyptian presidency announced last July that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed on the need for urgent negotiations to reach an agreement on the rules for filling and operating the Renaissance Dam within 4 months.
Despite the signing of an agreement of principles between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in 2015 to define mechanisms for dialogue and negotiation to resolve all problems related to the dam between the three countries, successive rounds of negotiations failed to reach an agreement between the three countries on the mechanism of storing water behind the dam and the mechanism for its operation.
The failure to reach an agreement between the three countries led to an increase in political tension between them, and the file was referred to the UN Security Council, which held two sessions on the subject, without taking a decision on it.
Ethiopia began construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile River in 2011 to generate electricity.
Egypt fears that the dam will damage its share of water, most of which comes from the Blue Nile, while Sudan is increasingly concerned that its water facilities will be damaged and its share of water will decrease.
