The Foreign ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been meeting in Washington to resolve differences over filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), APA learnt on Tuesday.
The fourth and the last trilateral ministerial technical meeting of the three countries, which was held in Ethiopia last week, ended without agreement.
Ethiopia blamed Egypt for the failure to reach an agreement at the meeting conducted from 8-9 January 2020.
“The insistence by the delegation from Egypt to have its entire proposal accepted has prevented us reaching an agreement,” said Ethiopia’s Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy.
In the Addis Ababa meeting, Egypt presented a new proposal that suggests Ethiopia can fill the dam within a period of 12-21 years.
Ethiopia however presented a proposal to fill the dam ibetween 4 –7 years depending on the inflow at the GERD and to take mitigation measures in the incidence of drought or its prolonged period during filling and operation.
Egypt’s proposal also assumes the natural flow on the Blue Nile River and obliges Ethiopia to compensate the cumulative deficit for the water it uses for filling the dam, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, “Egypt’s proposal which assumes natural flow zeroes all abstractions including the existing water development projects Ethiopia built for the past 50 years on the Blue Nile.”
In the Washington meeting, the countries are expected to resolve these differences and reach an agreement by Wednesday, January 15.
If an agreement is not reached, they will invoke article 10 of the 2015 Declaration of Principles which states that “The three countries commit to settle any dispute resulting from the interpretation or application of the declaration of principles through talks or negotiations based on the good will principle.
“If the parties involved do not succeed in solving the dispute through talks or negotiations, they can ask for mediation or refer the matter to their heads of states or prime ministers.”
MG/as/APA