Sudan vows to support Egypt in GERD crisis

CAIRO – 14 July 2017: The filling of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s (GERD) reservoir should be applied over seven or eight years, otherwise Egypt and Sudan will suffer thirst, said Sudanese Media Minister, Ahmed Bilal, on Thursday.

In a press conference at the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo, Bilal asserted that Egypt and Sudan share strong links and long history of unending relationship, adding that Khartoum will not to allow harming Egypt's national security.

He pointed out that reservoir filling should be implemented in cooperation with downstream countries to minimize potential negative impacts.

Concerns have risen in Cairo and Khartoum over the negative impact the Ethiopian dam will have on their historic Nile water share, amounting to 55.5 billion cubic meters in Egypt only, in accordance with the historic 1959 agreement with Sudan.

Bilal also expressed his concerns over the GERD’s design, stressing that his country will be the first party that could be negatively affected by in case the dam collapsed. He said that his country waits for the results of technical studies carried out by French companies on the dam, and they are currently negotiating about the period of storage.

In 2015, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed to contract French company BRL and Dutch company Deltares to conduct technical studies on the impact of the GERD on both Egypt and Sudan. However, Deltares withdrew from the agreement in July.

In December, the three countries contracted another French company, Artelia, to assist BRL in carrying out the studies.

Since then, the two companies have been preparing their studies on the GERD’s potential impact on all concerned countries.

In 2011, Ethiopia started construction on the Renaissance Dam over the Blue Nile River, one of the major sources of the water that forms the River Nile downstream.

The dam is expected to be ready by 2017. Ethiopia see it as a great national project and a means of overcoming poverty, and it keeps reassuring Cairo and Khartoum that their water share will not be affected.