Sudan: 1st filling of Renaissance Dam a stab in Khartoum’s back

CAIRO - 18 June 2021:  Sudan's Foreign Minister, Maryam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, said that her country rejects to enter into any military confrontations to resolve the issue of the Renaissance Dam, Al-Arabiya net reported.

 

She added that Sudan’s sovereignty over our lands cannot be compromised, stressing that

that the first filling of the Renaissance Dam was a stab in Sudan’s back by Ethiopia.

 

In mid-July 2020, Ethiopian authorities unilaterally carried out the first phase of the filling process with 4.9 billion cubic meters; and it is scheduled that the second phase of the filling would reach 13 billion cubic meters.

 

The dispute among Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia dates back to May 2011 when Ethiopia started building the dam; Egypt voiced concern over its water share [55.5 billion cubic meters].

 

In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles, per which the downstream countries should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam, whose capacity is 74 billion cubic meters and is planned to generate 6,000 megawatts per annum through 16 turbines.