Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan failed to resolve a long-running dispute over the $5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being built on the Blue Nile River after two days of meetings in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, reported Reuters.
The meeting was attended by the water ministers and technical delegations from the three countries along with mediators from the United States and the World Bank. It ended on Thursday without an agreement.
Egyptian Water Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty told Reuters that the dialogue had brought clarity but no deal.
“We did not reach an agreement today but we achieved clarity at least on all issues including the filling. We hope to reach a deal next week in Washington,” Abdel Aty said.
Notably, Egypt wants the dam to be filled slowly in order to reduce the restriction on the flow of the Nile on which it is completely dependent for its water requirement. The dispute over the filling and operation of the dam has led to a diplomatic battle between Egypt and Ethiopia.
According to Ethiopian Water Minister Sileshi Bekele, the Egyptian delegation came for the talks with no intention of reaching a deal.
“We didn’t agree on the filling of the dam as Egypt presented a new proposal requesting the filling to be carried out in 12-21 years,” Sileshi told a news conference. “This is not acceptable.”
Sileshi complained that the Egyptian delegation had an attitude that “this dam was not necessary for Ethiopia.” He said the Ethiopian government will start filling the dam in July 2020.
The water and energy ministers from the three countries will next meet on Jan. 13 in Washington to report on the progress they made so far. They are expected to resolve their disagreements over the filling and operation of the hydroelectric dam by Jan. 15.
