Water minister discusses Ethiopia’s dam issue in Budapest

CAIRO - 18 October 2019: Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Atti held a series of bilateral meetings with a number of water and energy ministers from different countries to update them on the latest development of the stalled negotiations between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said the Egyptian ministry in a statement on Thursday.

The meetings were held on the sidelines of the 2019 Budapest Water Summit that as held on October 15-17, with the participation of around 2,000 officials, the statement added, noting that the minister met with his counterparts of Hungary, Iraq, Oman, Senegal, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, to also discuss aspects of joint cooperation.

The Minister reviewed Egypt’s proposal concerning the dam’s operation and filling its reservoir during the periods of drought in a way that causes no harm to Ethiopia and two other downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan], the statement continued.

Egypt and Ethiopia are at loggerheads over the controversial the $4-billion dam, as Cairo voiced its concern over its share after Ethiopia started building the dam on the Blue Nile in May 2011.

A series of tripartite talks between the two countries along with Sudan has begun in 2014. One year later, the three countries reached an agreement, per which the downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan] should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam. However, Cairo and Addis Ababa have recently blamed each other for hindering a final agreement concerning a technical problem.

President Abdel Fattah Elal-Sisi on Saturday affirmed on Oct. 12 Egypt’s water rights in the River Nile as Renaissance Dam negotiations reached a dead end as a result of the Ethiopian side's rejection to all proposals that take into account Egypt's water rights and interests.

On October 14, 2019, Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs Hamdy Louza met with ambassadors of Germany, Italy, and China to express Egypt’s discontent over the work of their companies in the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Also, Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS) has released a new edition on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) entitled “Renaissance Dam: Dimensions, Repercussions and Future Courses”, regarding developments of negotiations after reaching a deadlock.

A number of top-level officials, diplomats, politics and legal scholars took part at a three-day conference organized by ECSS to discuss the legal, political and diplomatic aspects of the issue.

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Egyptian Strategic Studies Center issues special edition on Renaissance Dam developments, repercussions

CAIRO - 16 October 2019: The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS) has released a new edition on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), entitled "Renaissance Dam: Dimensions, Repercussions and Future Courses", regarding developments of negotiations after reaching a deadlock and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's statement at the UN that the dam "will not be operated by imposing a fait accompli."