Egypt and Sudan are stepping up coordination over water security as Ethiopia prepares to inaugurate its disputed Grand Renaissance Dam on Sept. 9, Egypt’s irrigation ministry said on Thursday.
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam met his Sudanese counterpart, Ismat Qureshi, in Cairo to discuss the dam and Nile Basin cooperation. Sewilam stressed “the need for full compliance with international water law” in managing the Ethiopian project, the ministry said.
Ethiopia built the massive hydropower dam on the Blue Nile, the Nile’s main tributary, despite objections from Cairo and Khartoum, which want a legally binding agreement governing the filling and operation of the reservoir.
Talks between the three countries have dragged on for more than a decade without a deal. Egypt suspended negotiations last year, accusing Addis Ababa of lacking political will.
The ministers’ meeting came a day after a separate round of “2+2” consultations in Cairo between the foreign and irrigation ministers of both countries, who warned in a joint statement that the dam “poses a persistent threat to stability in the eastern Nile basin” and urged Ethiopia to alter its policies to restore cooperation.
Sudanese and Egyptian officials also reaffirmed their joint stance that the two downstream countries’ water security is indivisible and rejected “any unilateral actions” on the Nile.
Ambassador Salah Halima, a member of Egypt’s Council for Foreign Affairs, said Ethiopia’s plan to inaugurate the dam without an agreement was “a provocation,” adding that Cairo would not take part in the ceremony.
“The positions of Cairo and Khartoum are aligned in rejecting Ethiopia’s unilateral policies,” Halima told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
Mohamed Jabara, head of the foreign relations committee of the Sudanese-Egyptian Friendship Association, said recent talks had produced “positive results aimed at protecting the countries’ water rights.”
The irrigation ministers also reviewed the work of the permanent joint technical committee for Nile waters, the Egyptian ministry said.
