Egypt supports Sudan’s proposal calling for an international quartet mediation aimed at resolving the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) crisis, announced Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Mohamed Abdel-Aty.
During a meeting with US Special Envoy for Sudan Donald Booth and EU Envoy Marina Vraila, Abdel-Aty highlighted the importance of effective and serious negotiations to boost their chances of success.
Sudan proposed forming an international quartet led by the Democratic Republic of Congo, the current chair of the African Union (AU), and includes the AU, US, EU and UN.
The meeting discussed relaunching the stalled negotiations aiming to reach a fair and legally binding agreement to fill and operate the dam.
The minister explained Egypt’s desire to reach an agreement fair to all parties, confirming his country’s constant demand of preserving its water rights.
He warned that unilateral actions taken by Addis Ababa over the filling and operating the dam will have “massive negative repercussions”, stressing that it is one of the current major challenges facing Egypt, as it suffers from severe water scarcity matched by an abundance of water in Ethiopia.
Egypt “supports development in all countries of the Nile Basin” and it seeks to achieve the benefit for all by reaching a “fair and binding legal agreement for all that meets development aspirations of all countries,” he declared.
In 2011, Addis Ababa began constructing the dam to generate power. It is now preparing to begin the second phase of filling the reservoir in the coming months, despite warnings from Sudan and Egypt.
Last week, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that the second filling will go ahead as scheduled during the country’s rainy season in July.
Egypt and Sudan fear it will impact their water shares and worry that Ethiopia will carry on with filling the dam before reaching a binding legal agreement that guarantees' protective measures are taken in dry periods.
On Saturday, Egypt’s Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs Hamdi Sanad Loza also met with Booth to discuss the ongoing efforts to re-launch negotiations and reach an agreement on filling and operating the GERD.
Loza stressed the need to reach an agreement on the GERD as soon as possible, and before Ethiopia begins implementing the second phase, thus ensuring Egypt and Sudan are not adversely affected by the filling process, particularly relating to water access.
The US envoy’s visit to Egypt is part of a regional tour that also includes Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia, to consult on ways to advance the negotiation process on the matter.
