GERD: Egypt Adheres to Negotiations, Ethiopia Once Again Proposes to Share Waters

Arab World

August 25th, 9:13am

Cairo- Mohammed Abdu Hassanein

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as it appears in a satellite image taken on July 20, 2020 (AFP)

Ethiopia has once again disputed Egypt’s hegemony over the Blue Nile waters. It wants a recently formulated final agreement to include sharing the Nile waters, affirming that Egypt receives the biggest share. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew stressed that downstream countries reject Egypt’s hegemony over the use of the Nile waters. “Ethiopia needs to build the mega-dam and must reflect the realism about the use of the Nile River,” his country’s official press agency quoted him as saying. GERD is a slogan for all Ethiopians, he noted, expressing pride that his country is working to complete such a mega project with its own capabilities. Addis Ababa could generate up to 30,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power from the Nile River, the FM stressed, adding that “this tremendous potential will enable the country to deliver electricity to all Ethiopians, expand industrial complexes, and create job opportunities, as well as improving services.” Meanwhile, Egypt affirmed its adherence to the course of negotiations taking place among Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Khartoum on the rules for filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Spokesman of Egypt's Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed al-Sibai said the African Union (AU)-sponsored talks are ongoing. He pointed out that the three countries exchanged proposals for the final text of the agreement and chose both “legal and technical representatives from each country to participate in the merging of the three texts.” Sibai noted that the unified final agreement is expected to be handed over to the AU Chief and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Friday. In a statement published on Monday, the spokesman refused to speak about the talks taking place. Cairo fears the potential negative impact of GERD, which Addis Ababa is constructing on the Nile River, on the flow of its annual share of the Nile’s 55.5 billion cubic meters of water especially that it relies on it for more than 90 percent of its water supplies. Addis Ababa, however, says the dam is not aimed at harming Egypt or Sudan’s interests, stressing that the main objective is to generate electricity to support its development.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2468316/gerd-egypt-adheres-negotiations-ethiopia-once-again-proposes-share-waters