Negotiations continue on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam sponsored by the African Union, as the Egyptian negotiating team held talks with observers and experts to clarify its position.
On Sunday, the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation said in a statement that the Egyptian team, headed by Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati, discussed with the monitors the technical and legal aspects of filling the dam and reviewed the water situation of Egypt.
The statement added that the Egyptian side presented proposals "consistent with internationally recognized standards" and achieving "the Ethiopian goal in generating electricity", while avoiding "serious harm to the Egyptian and Sudanese interests", but the statement did not mention the features of these proposals.
The Egyptian Minister of Irrigation said that the negotiations revealed a difference of views with Ethiopia. He added that his country does not stand in front of Ethiopia's development projects, but considers the issue of the dam an existential issue.
The representatives of the African Union will hold talks with the representatives of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia separately.
Ethiopia sticks to mobilization
For his part, Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation Silshe Bagli said that the filling of the Renaissance Dam reservoir scheduled for this month is part of the construction of the dam, which he said took place according to international standards, stressing the imperative of this step.
Ethiopia is participating in the negotiations, but stresses that it will proceed to mobilize the dam reservoir this month even if no agreement is reached with Egypt and Sudan.
Observers
The Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation indicated that the negotiators became 11, after 8 observers from the institutions of the African Union joined.
On the other hand, the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation said that the technical differences regarding the Renaissance Dam remained limited, and expressed optimism that an agreement was reached, but indicated that this required more effort and political will.
Negotiations on the Renaissance Dam via video communications were resumed last Friday, under the auspices of the South African country, as the current president of the African Union.
The resumption of negotiations came in implementation of the results of a mini-summit sponsored by the African Union held last June 27, amid an Ethiopian commitment to fill and operate the dam in July, in exchange for an Egyptian-Sudanese refusal to take this step before reaching an agreement.
Observers from the United States, the European Union and South Africa, representatives of the African Union Office and Commission and its legal experts will participate in the negotiations.
Egypt fears that the dam will reduce its annual share of the Nile's water, which amounts to 55.5 billion cubic meters, and demands an agreement on several files, including the safety of the dam, and the determination of its filling bases in times of drought.
On the other hand, Ethiopia says that it does not aim to harm the interests of Egypt or Sudan, and that the main objective of the dam is to generate electricity to support the development process. The dam is located on the course of the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile.