Egypt’s FM receives DRC counterpart in Cairo to discuss resumption of GERD talks

CARO - 16 September 2021:  Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry receive on Thursday,  Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Democratic of Congo (DRC), Mr. Christophe Lutundula, said Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a statement on Wednesday evening.

 

Both Ministers will hold a session of talks at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, downtown Cairo, the statement said. The meeting will be followed by a press conference.

 

The Congolese minister visited Sudan on Wednesday to discuss the resumption of the trilateral negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said Sudanese news agency (SUNA). 

 

He handed Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi a document prepared by a joint team of experts from the DRC presidency and the African Union Commission. 

 

The document includes a summary of the points agreed upon between the three countries and the disputed aspects.

 

In February 2021, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met with President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Félix Tshisekedi in the latter’s first visit to Egypt. Both leaders held bilateral meetings at Ittihadiya Palace, as well as discussions with both countries’ delegations attending.

 

President Tshisekedi said that he will work hard during his tenure chairing the African Union to solve the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) ongoing issue between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

 

Foreign Minister Lutundula’s visit came after Egypt has welcomed the UN Security Council statement issued, Wednesday on the GERD, encouraging all three countries to resume negotiations with the aim of reaching a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam within a reasonable time frame.

 

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged observers of previous GERD negotiations under the African Union's sponsorship, and any other observers to be involved in future dam talks, to continue supporting the negotiation to facilitate all technical, or any other issues regarding the agreement.

 

“The Security Council is not the competent authority in technical and administrative disputes over water sources and rivers.” The UNSC statement said

 

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are at loggerheads over the $4-billion dam; Cairo voiced concern over its water share [55.5 billion cubic meters] after Ethiopia started building the dam on the Blue Nile in May 2011.

 

In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles, per which the downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan] should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam.