Egypt announced on Monday the failure of the negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), as Addis Ababa rejected “without discussion” Egypt’s vision regarding the rules of filling and operating the GERD.
According to a statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Egypt also rejected the Ethiopian proposal which Egypt described as an “unfair” proposal.
The statement said that during the meeting, which gathered members of the technical and research committees of the GERD, participants addressed different things but not the core of the issue upon Ethiopian request.
On Sunday and Monday, Cairo hosted a meeting between representatives of the three countries which was set to continue the negotiations on the GERD. The meeting was also set to gather ministers of water and foreign affairs from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, but it was held only by representatives of water ministries while foreign ministers were absent from the meeting.
The filling and operating period of the GERD is the main problematic issue between the parties who failed to reach solutions to the issue amid the Ethiopian insistence on storage within a period of three years, while Egypt requests a 7-year filing period.
The meeting was scheduled to be held in August, to reach an agreement on the rules of filling and operation of the GERD, but it was amended after Egypt’s request to be held in mid-September.
Parties of the Cairo meeting agreed to hold an urgent meeting for the independent scientific committee from 30 September to 3 October in Khartoum, Sudan, to discuss the proposal of the three countries. Another meeting is set to be held from 4 to 5 October 2019 between ministers of water in the three countries.
