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Sunday, June 28, 2020
Sudan, Egypt say Ethiopia will not fill Nile dam without reaching deal
By Reuters
Leaders of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt agreed that Ethiopia will not start
filling its Nile dam without reaching an agreement within two weeks,
Sudan and Egypt said on Friday.
Ethiopia, which is building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)
which worries its downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan, only confirmed
“fruitful discussions” with the help of the African Union, the foreign
ministry said in a statement.
The dam on the Blue Nile, the source for most Nile water, offered for
“all stakeholders the opportunity for unprecedented economic growth and
mutual development,” the statement said.
It was not clear whether the statement had been issued after an online
summit of leaders from Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South African
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who chairs the African Union (AU).
Reuters was unable to get late at night any immediate comment from
Ethiopian officials whether they had agreed not to fill the dam until a
deal had been reached.
Ethiopia says the $4 billion hydropower project will have an installed capacity of 6,450 megawatts.
The three leaders had “agreed to an AU-led process to resolve
outstanding issues,” AU Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat tweeted. He
gave no details.
The Egyptian presidency said in a statement after the summit that Ethiopia will not fill the dam unilaterally.
“Egypt’s vision in this regard is represented in the importance of
returning to negotiation ... while working to create an environment
conducive to the success of these negotiations through Ethiopia’s pledge
not to take any unilateral step,” Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah
al-Sisi said, according to state media.
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the leaders had agreed to
resume talks, suspended last week, the Sudan News Agency said.
With Ethiopia insisting it will use seasonal rains to begin filling the
dam’s reservoir next month, Cairo appealed to the U.N. Security Council
in a last-ditch diplomatic move. The Council is due to have a public
meeting on Monday.
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