Ethiopian Informer
By Habtamu Worku
ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 10 (EI) – As negotiations among Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan regarding the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) stalled as the three parties still failed to reach an agreement, the Ethiopian government has accused Egypt’s latest proposal to have crossed the “red line” from the East African country’s perspective.
“The proposal crossed the red line drawn by Ethiopia,” state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) quoted officials at the Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation, and Energy as saying.
The ministry, which noted that Egypt’s new proposal regarding the filling of Ethiopia’s grand dam “has remained a point of disagreement between the two countries,” also announced Ethiopia’s rejection of the proposal.
“Ethiopia rejected the proposal because the construction of the dam is an issue of national survival and sovereignty. The proposal also crossed the red line drawn by Ethiopia,” FBC quoted Tefera Beyen, Border and Cross-Border Rivers Affairs Advisor at the ministry, as saying during a discussion organized by Office of the National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation on GERD to discuss the progress of the project.
Tefera, who briefed the participants about the series of trilateral talks being held between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, said that Egypt’s latest proposal proposed the dam to release 40 billion cubic meters of water every year, release more water when the Aswan Dam goes below 165 meters above sea level, and invited a third party in the discussions between the three countries.
On Saturday, Egyptian, Sudanese and Ethiopian ministers of water and irrigation concluded on three-way negotiations in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum to discuss on GERD.
The Egyptian government, which noted that the recent negotiations reached a “dead end,” also on Saturday held Ethiopia responsible for the failure of the negotiations noting that the Ethiopian side “rejected all the proposals that would help Egypt avoid serious harms due to the construction of the dam,” Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency spokesman for Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mohamed Sibai, as saying on Saturday.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also on Saturday stressed his country’s resolve to “reinforce its effort to make the ongoing trilateral dialogue a success. It also expects a similar commitment from the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.”
“Ethiopia reiterates rights of all the 11 basin countries of the Nile to utilize Nile waters based on principles of equitable utilization and causing of no significant harm, which underlines the right of Ethiopia to develop its water resources to meet dev’t needs of its people,” Abiy said in a Twitter post on Saturday.
The Ethiopian premier also stressed that his country “stands ready to resolve any differences and outstanding concerns by consultation among the three countries.”
The Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation, and Energy had also recently stressed that Egypt’s new approach regarding the dam is an unwarranted denial of the progress in the trilateral technical dialogue and violates the agreement signed by the three countries in 2015.
Ethiopia’s GERD, which is a 74,000 million cubic meters hydroelectric dam under construction on the Blue Nile River – a major Nile tributary that originates from Ethiopia and shared among the three countries – has been at the center of recent discussions among Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt since Ethiopia announced GERD back in 2011.
While Ethiopia and Sudan had previously reached mutual consensus on the construction of the dam, Egypt frequently expressed its concern that the dam would affect its share of the river.
Kifle Horo, Project Manager of GERD, also on Tuesday disclosed that the construction of the grand hydroelectric dam has presently reached over 68.5 percent completion status.
