The recent round of negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has not led to any breakthrough, due to the Ethiopian side’s inflexibility on several technical and legal issues, Egypt’s Minister of Water resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aaty said on Wednesday.
Talks over the GERD have resumed recently upon Sudanese invitation after the three countries reached a deadlock in February after Ethiopia skipped the final round of talks in Washington.
Following a Wednesday tripartite meeting, Abdel Aaty revealed that Ethiopia refused signing a binding agreement in accordance with international law, and said it will commit only to the guidelines and rules agreed upon with Egypt and Sudan on the initial filling and annual operation of the dam, that Ethiopia could amend individually.
The minister further added that Ethiopia stressed that it has the absolute right to set up projects on the Blue Nile, and expressed its refusal to any binding legal mechanism to settle potential disputes over the dam.
Abdel Aaty stated that despite the long negotiations that have been taking place for nearly a full decade, Egypt participated in the recent round of negotiations upon Sudan’s call and in good faith in an effort to reach a fair and balanced agreement on the dam.
Also on Wednesday, the US National Security Council (NSC) called on Ethiopia to sign a deal regarding GERD and refrain from unilateral action.
“257 million people in east #Africa are relying on #Ethiopia to show strong leadership, which means striking a fair deal. Technical issues have been resolved – time to get the GERD deal done before filling it with Nile River water!,” NSC tweeted.
Moreover, Ethiopia objected Egyptian and Sudanese irrigation ministers’ proposal to refer the matter to the prime ministers of the three countries as a last chance to figure out a solution to the stalled negotiations.
Egypt always respected Ethiopia’s right in achieving its development goals without causing any harm to the Nile downstream countries (Egypt and Sudan), said Abdel Aaty. Unfortunately, Ethiopia maintained its stubborn stance, he added.
Early on Wednesday, Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said that the negation did not reach fruitful results and the matter should be referred to the three countries’ prime ministers so a consensus can be reached so that the negotiations can resume as soon as possible.
