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- After Sudan’s refusal to sign the partial agreement without Egypt, Ethiopia has announced its decision to go ahead with filling of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
- Sudanese PM clarified that the issues regarding the dam need a tripartite agreement between Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Cairo, before the first filling
After Sudan’s refusal to sign the partial agreement without Egypt, Ethiopia has announced its decision to go ahead with the filling of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in July. Speaking to media in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Irrigation Minister Sileshi Bekele said that the $4.8 billion project would go on as the civil engineering part was 87 per cent complete, and the general construction progress has reached 73 per cent.
In a letter, to his Ethiopian counterpart, Dr Abiy Ahmed dated 13 th May, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok clarified Sudan’s stand that the issues regarding the dam need a tripartite agreement between Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Cairo, before the first filling. He stated that prior to the signing of any partial agreement for the first stage, an agreement on the technical and legal aspects should be included in the deal such as the co-ordination mechanism, data exchange, dam safety and environmental and social impacts should be in place.
Since February, the tripartite negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have been suspended, when Ethiopia boycotted the talks accusing Sudan of using the US to put pressure on them. According to Ethiopia, it has been asked to offer mitigation in case of a prolonged drought.US brokered negotiations between the three stakeholders took place in February in Washington. A major dispute at the discussions in Washington was about the time to fill the dam. Ethiopia wanted to fill it in seven years, Egypt wanted the dam to be filled from 10 years onwards to minimise the fall in the water flow of Nile downstream. Under the 1959 agreement with Sudan, Egypt has been receiving 55.5 billion cubic meters annually. Egypt wanted the issue as per the norms of international law and reached out to the US, the Arab League and the UN to put pressure on Ethiopia. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, has approached the UN Security Council about Ethiopia’s unilateral move to fill the dam outside the tripartite discussions.
