Egypt has said that talks with Sudan and Ethiopia over the operation of a $4bn hydropower dam that Ethiopia is constructing on the Nile have reached a deadlock. Egypt blamed Ethiopia for the impasse and called for international mediation.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), announced in 2011, is designed to be the centrepiece of the Horn of Africa country’s bid to become the continent’s biggest power exporter, generating more than 6,000 megawatts.
“The negotiations on the Renaissance dam have reached a deadlock,” Egypt’s irrigation ministry said in a statement on Saturday after a new round of talks ended in the Sudanese capital.
| Ethiopia dam dispute: Talks in Khartoum over sharing the water |
It claimed the Ethiopian delegation “rejected all the proposals that take Egypt’s water interests into account” and presented one that “lacked guarantees” on how to deal with droughts that may occur in the future.
Egypt depends on the Nile for about 90 percent of its needs for irrigation and drinking water, and says it has “historic rights” to the river guaranteed by treaties from 1929 and 1959.
Egyptian presidency spokesman Bassam Radi said Egypt was looking forward to an “instrumental role” by the US in the talks. He said because there was no breakthrough in negotiations, there was a need for an “international instrumental role to overcome the current deadlock.”
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Thursday the US supports Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan’s negotiations to reach a sustainable and mutually beneficial agreement.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/egypt-deadlock-nile-dam-talks-ethiopia-191006070043565.html
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