Three-Way Talks over Ethiopian Dam Fail in Kinshasa

This handout picture taken on July 20, 2020, and released by Adwa Pictures on July 27, 2020, shows an aerial view of the GERD on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)
This handout picture taken on July 20, 2020, and released by Adwa Pictures on July 27, 2020, shows an aerial view of the GERD on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)
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Three-Way Talks over Ethiopian Dam Fail in Kinshasa

This handout picture taken on July 20, 2020, and released by Adwa Pictures on July 27, 2020, shows an aerial view of the GERD on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)
This handout picture taken on July 20, 2020, and released by Adwa Pictures on July 27, 2020, shows an aerial view of the GERD on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)

Egypt and Sudan said on Tuesday that the latest round of talks with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Kinshasa have ended with no progress made.

Delegations from the three countries were meeting in the Democratic Republic of Congo hoping to break a deadlock in negotiations over a project Ethiopia says is key to its economic development and power generation.

Egypt fears the dam will imperil its supplies of Nile water, while Sudan is concerned about the dam’s safety and water flows through its own dams and water stations.

Before the meetings began, Egypt had said they represented the last chance to re-start negotiations before Ethiopia begins to fill the dam for the second year in a row after seasonal rains begin this summer.

Sudan’s foreign minister Mariam al-Sadig al-Mahdi told reporters on Tuesday that Ethiopia’s insistence on such unilateral moves represents a violation of international law.

“This Ethiopian intransigence requires Sudan to consider all possible options to protect its security and its citizens,” the Sudanese irrigation and water resources ministry said in a statement.

Ethiopian water minister Seleshi Bekele did not respond to texts and calls seeking comment.

Sudan and Egypt were aligned on a proposal to include the European Union, United States and United Nations in the negotiations, as an addition to current African Union mediators.

Both countries said Ethiopia rejected the proposal during the meeting, as well as other suggestions to re-start negotiations.

“This position reveals once again Ethiopia’s lack of political will to negotiate in good faith,” Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Sudan, which is also locked in a border dispute with Ethiopia, had hosted Egypt for air force training exercises that concluded on Saturday.

Last week, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said there would be “inconceivable instability in the region” if Egypt’s water supply were affected by the dam.

“Without a new approach to negotiations, there becomes space for Ethiopia to impose a fait accompli and put all the peoples of the region in grave danger,” said al-Mahdi.



Hamas Rejects Trump Remarks on Gaza Talks Breakdown

Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, at the Al-Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, on February 22. (EPA)
Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, at the Al-Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, on February 22. (EPA)
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Hamas Rejects Trump Remarks on Gaza Talks Breakdown

Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, at the Al-Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, on February 22. (EPA)
Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, at the Al-Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, on February 22. (EPA)

Hamas officials expressed surprise on Saturday at US President Donald Trump's accusation that the group "didn't really want" a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza.

Trump made the allegation of Friday a day after Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar that had lasted nearly three weeks.

"Trump's remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files," Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

"So far, we have not been informed of any issues regarding the files under discussion in the indirect ceasefire negotiations", he added

Nunu, who is close to Hamas's most senior political officials, said he was "surprised" that Israel and the United States had left the talks.

Announcing the recall of US mediators on Thursday, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not "acting in good faith".

Though not part of the Hamas negotiating team, Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq insisted the group had shown "flexibility" in the talks.

"The American statements deliberately ignore the real obstructionist to all agreements, Netanyahu's government, which continues to put obstacles, deceive and evade commitments," he said.

Both Hamas officials called on the United States to be more even-handed in its role as mediator in the quest for a ceasefire after more than 21 months of fighting.

"We call for an end to the US bias in favour of Netanyahu, who is obstructing any agreement", Nunu said.