Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan views closer on Nile dam: Sudanese minister

Reuters

Khartoum, SudanUpdated: Dec 23, 2019, 11:10 AM IST

File Photo: Egypt views the hydro-electric barrage as an existential threat that could severely reduce its water supply, but Ethiopia insists that Egypt's water share will not be affected. Photograph:(AFP)

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Egypt is worried the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), under construction near Ethiopia's border with Sudan, will restrict supplies of already scarce Nile waters on which it is almost entirely dependent.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have come closer to aligning their views on filling the reservoir of and operating the giant hydroelectric dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the Sudanese irrigation minister said on Sunday.

"Proposals were submitted by the three countries regarding filling the reservoir and operating the dam and a convergence (of views) occurred," Sudanese Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Yasser Abbas told reporters after he met his Egyptian and Ethiopian counterparts in Khartoum.

In November, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to work towards resolving their dispute over the $4 billion dam by January 15, 2020, after meeting US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and World Bank President David Malpass in Washington.

They met in Washington again this month and are due for the third meeting on January 13, where they will try to finalise an agreement to resolve the dispute.

The US administration invited the three sides for talks after Egypt called for an external mediator on the issue, saying three-way talks had been exhausted. Addis Ababa had previously rejected the idea, accusing Egypt of trying to sidestep the process.

The three countries' irrigation ministers will have further discussions at a meeting in the Ethiopian capital on January 9-10, the Egyptian irrigation ministry said in a statement after Sunday's meeting.

On Sunday, they also agreed to come up with a definition of droughts and how the dam would operate during droughts, Sudan's Abbas said.

"There is a convergence (of views) in general, and there are differences of views in some circumstances. Sudan proposed a specified time for filling the reservoir and added definitions for drought and continuous drought," Abbas said.

Egypt's irrigation ministry said it was seeking to reach agreement on filling and operating the dam that "achieves the interests of the three countries ... in a manner that preserves the sustainability of the river and the mutual benefit".

There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia.