The Ethiopian government is interested in beginning talks with Egypt and Sudan on the controversial Blue Nile dam, one of Ethiopia’s senior officials said, reported Africa News.
Sileshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s former dam negotiator, who is currently the country’s ambassador to the United States, made the remark at a meeting with Mike Hammer, the new US special envoy to the Horn of Africa.
A statement by the Ethiopian foreign ministry on Friday cited the ambassador as highlighting “Ethiopia’s interest to resume the African Union-led trilateral negotiation over the GERD,” or Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
In the statement, the ministry added that Addis Ababa will continue to fill the GERD, Africa’s largest hydroelectric power plant, without any intention to harm any other country.
During a conference on Friday, Dina Mufti, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the dam’s third filing is on track for this year.
“We have been saying since the start of the dam’s construction that tripartite talks will continue,” he said.
The multi-billion dollar dam project is expected to bring electricity to millions of off-grid Ethiopians, but Egypt and Sudan fear it will reduce the share of water they receive from the Nile River.
Several rounds of negotiations among Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan on the dam have failed in the past with the three parties eventually failing to reach an agreement.
Egypt, which relies heavily on Nile freshwater, fears that the GERD will have an adverse effect on the country’s water supply. Egypt has also demanded that there should be safeguards in place to protect downstream countries in the event of drought while the dam is being built. Egypt and Sudan want a legally binding agreement in case of a dispute, whereas Ethiopia wants a non-binding agreement.
In February this year, the Ethiopia government said it had begun producing power from one unit of the dam.
