(AFP File Photo)
An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited Ethiopia on Sunday to meet with Ethiopian officials regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs Ali El Hefny arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to complete talks about the repercussions of building the GERD and bilateral relations, according to state-owned news agency Al-Ahram.
Egypt and Ethiopia began talks last week when an Ethiopian delegation came to Egypt. The talks began following Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr’s visit to Ethiopia in June to discuss the implementation of the findings of the International Panel of Experts’ report on the GERD.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, speaking on Saturday, called on the Egyptian government to refrain from taking provocative action and emphasised the need for “civilised” negotiations, reported Al-Ahram.
Desaglen asserted that Egypt’s position is based upon agreements in 1929 and 1959, which were finalised “without the consent of Upper Nile states.” These agreements allocate Egypt the majority of the Nile waters.
Ethiopia began diverting water from the Blue Nile, a tributary of the Nile at the end of May. This sparked concerns in Egypt that the GERD would negatively affect Egypt’s water share.
