Recently, U.S. president Donald Trump held parleys with delegations from the Nile Dam countries at the White House ahead of talks with the head of the treasury in Washington. The meeting was held to find lasting solutions for the long standing dispute among Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan over their respective rights over Nile Waters and the water for the much touted grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam project. The US treasury chief, Steven Mnuchin also met with the delegation.
In the discussion that followed, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan made a commitment to resolving a dispute over a large Ethiopian-led dam project after US-led talks by January 15 of next year.
The ministers reaffirmed their joint commitment to reach a comprehensive, cooperative, adaptive, sustainable, and mutually beneficial agreement on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It also agreed to establish a clear process for fulfilling that commitment in accordance with already agreed principles. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and World Bank President David Malpass also signed it.
Ethiopia, it is reported, is still holding a tough stand, which continues to derail the outcome of the talks. Earlier, the three involved countries met to sort out the differences, which is mainly regarding sharing of waters of Nile and arriving at a formula that can address the water requirements of each country. Ethiopia is also irked by Egypt’s assertion that the US would act as an intermediary in the talk. That country maintains that it is not a platform for technical negotiations. Yet, it had agreed to send its representatives mainly to explain its position.
The U.S. administration invited representatives of three countries to meet in the United States on Nov. 6 in the presence of representatives of the American administration to discuss breaking the deadlock in the ongoing negotiations at the request of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when President Trump met him in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Trump agreed to reach out to Ethiopia and offered the “good offices” of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to mediate in the affair.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been in the works since 2011. This massive Ethiopian hydroelectric dam project along the Nile river will become operational by 2020. Once completed, it will become one of the world’s biggest dams and Africa’s biggest power exporter by generating close to about 6,500 megawatts of electricity, double Ethiopia’s current output. Importantly, Nile is the source of water supply for 10 African countries including Egypt and Sudan. The apprehension of Egypt and Sudan is that the project could threaten their water supply. Egypt is dependent on Nile water sources to meet 90% of its requirements, is more concerned about the mega dam in making which can curtail its water supply during summer days.
