EGYPT
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to resume negotiations on the Renaissance dam being built on the Blue Nile almost three months after it was suspended. This was announced on Tuesday by the Ministry f Water Resources and Irrigation of Egypt.
The corresponding agreement was reached at a videoconference meeting of the Foreign Ministries and Ministries of Water Resources and Irrigation of the three countries. It took place at the call of South Africa, currently presiding in the African Union (AU), in the presence of observers from the United States, the European Union and the AU.
"At the meeting, Egypt reaffirmed the importance of reaching a legally binding agreement on the principles of filling and operating the dam, which will protect the common interests of the three countries and ensure their water needs," the ministry said in a statement.
The parties agreed that Sudan, as chair of this new round of negotiations, will organize a week-long consultation, during which the parties will focus on revising the draft final agreement. The exact terms of the negotiations have not yet been announced.
On August 4, Cairo announced it was suspending talks on the dam due to Addis Ababa's controversial position. Egypt then accused Ethiopia of disrupting the already agreed positions. The consultations were devoted exclusively to the aspects of filling and operating the dam - the most pressing issues for Cairo, however, negotiations of the technical and legal committees, followed by the announcement of the final report, did not take place. Since 2011, Ethiopia has been implementing a project to build Africa's largest dam "Renaissance" ("Khidase") of 15 radial-axial hydraulic units. The capacity of the HPP, which will be a cascade of four dams, will amount to 5,250 MW. Addis Ababa intends to commission it in 2022-2023. The project cost is $ 4.6 billion. For Ethiopia, the construction of the station is a gigantic economic project, the implementation of which will provide the country with electricity and allow exporting it to neighboring countries. Egypt and Sudan fear that as a result of the Ethiopian hydroelectric power station in the Nile, there may be an acute shortage of water, which will lead to numerous socio-economic and environmental problems, and are trying to secure for themselves water resource norms and maximize the time for filling the dam.
Trilateral negotiations on the timing and volumes of filling and the rules for the operation of the dam resumed for the first time since February in June, the African Union joined them, but the parties could not come to a compromise. In the end, Egypt stated the futility of the negotiations, which did not lead, despite all the efforts of Cairo, to the conclusion of an agreement.
In July, during the rainy season, Addis Ababa announced the completion of the first phase of filling the reservoir of the hydroelectric power station, which was facilitated by heavy rainfall this year.