DR Congo to Host GERD Talks on Saturday

Arab World

April 2nd, 7:29am

Khartoum, Cairo - Ahmed Younis, Mohammed Abdo Hassanein

The Sudanese Minister of Irrigation during virtual talks with his Egyptian and Ethiopian counterparts in June 2020. (AFP)

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will meet in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, on Saturday for talks on the mega-dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile. President Felix Tshisekedi, who took over the chair of the African Union in February, will host the three-day meeting, said officials at the foreign ministry and presidency. The chairman of the AU’s Commission, Moussa Faki, is also expected to attend. AU ambassador to Sudan Mohamed Mohamed Belaiche told Asharq Al-Awsat that the three countries were officially invited. “The invitation aims to affirm the keenness of AU’s mediation to help reach a peaceful solution to the conflict and put an end to the ongoing tension in the region,” he explained. Asharq Al-Awsat also learned from an informed source that Sudan will participate in the upcoming meeting. The Sudanese team has held lengthy meetings to discuss the level of Khartoum’s participation and is expected to reach a decision within the next few hours, the source noted. For nearly a decade, talks among the three countries over the operation and filling of GERD, which raises Egyptian and Sudanese concerns, have faltered. In November, Sudan did not attend a round of talks called by South Africa, arguing that the current approach to reaching a tripartite agreement had not yielded results. Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said at the time that the AU should do more to “facilitate the negotiation and bridge the gap between the three parties.” He urged giving a greater role to the Union experts to facilitate negotiations. 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. They 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/2895571/dr-congo-host-gerd-talks-saturday