AU-Mediated GERD Talks to Kick Off in Kinshasa
Arab World
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat
Foreign ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will meet in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Saturday to discuss the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which broke ground in 2011. The three-day meeting in Kinshasa will be hosted by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who is also the chairman of the African Union. Rounds of negotiations among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have reached a deadlock several times. The meeting comes days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi warned that his country's share of the Nile River is "untouchable." In his remarks, Sisi warned that “no one can prejudice Egypt’s right to River Nile waters.” He also warned that any prejudice to this is a “red line”, and will have an impact on the stability of the entire region. The Sudanese government has also previously warned Ethiopia against unilaterally filling the dam, claiming such a move would threaten Sudan's national security. In this regard, Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi and Water Resources Minister Yasser Abbas will head Saturday to the Congolese capital to participate in the meetings, Sudan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The Sudanese delegation participates in this round to identify methodology and paths of the talks and reach agreement on them to ensure constructive negotiations that overcome the stalemate that characterized the talks during the past months," it noted. According to the statement, the talks would discuss Sudan's proposal of a mediation quartet of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and the African Union to help the three parties reach a binding legal agreement on filling and operating of the dam. Addis Ababa finished in July 2020 the first phase of filling the reservoir, in preparation for its operation, and announced going ahead with the second filling in July. Ethiopia began constructing the 1.8-kilometer-long GERD in 2011 to generate power. However, Cairo and Khartoum fear the potential negative impact of the dam on the flow of their annual share of the Nile’s 55.5 billion cubic meters of water. Both countries continue to stress the need to reach a binding and comprehensive agreement that guarantees the rights and interests of the three countries.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2897216/au-mediated-gerd-talks-kick-kinshasa
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