The parties involved in the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam held a new meeting today, Monday, under the auspices of the African Union, while Egypt expressed its opposition to "unilateral measures", a day after thousands of people in Addis Ababa took to the streets to celebrate the filling of the dam.
The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation said that his country opposes the unilateral measure to fill the Renaissance Dam without consulting and coordinating with the downstream countries, "which gives negative indications that Ethiopia does not want to reach a fair agreement, as it is a measure that contradicts the Declaration of Principles agreement."
He stressed the importance of speedy reaching an agreement on filling and operating the Renaissance Dam, so that each of the contentious points is agreed upon.
He stressed that "based on the mini-summit, the current negotiation will be about filling and operating the Renaissance Dam only, and that negotiating future projects will be at a later stage after reaching the Renaissance Dam Agreement."
The parties concerned agreed at the end of the meeting that the technical and legal committees discuss the contentious points during the next two days in two parallel tracks, and present the outputs at the ministerial meeting next Thursday.
It is in vain
These developments come a day after the Ethiopians celebrated the filling of the Renaissance Dam, as an expression of support for the project, which raises a dispute with the downstream states of Egypt and Sudan.
The streets were filled with tens of thousands of citizens, many of them antiques of the national flag, while others waved pictures and chanted slogans celebrating the dam, known locally as "Abe".
People blew car horns and whistles, played loud music, and danced in public, to celebrate the occasion. "It is my lord" and "Ethiopia's rights to rights" dominated locally on social media.
The coordinated celebration came as part of a campaign dubbed "One Voice for our Sedna," after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed announced on July 22 that monsoon rains had led to the first successful filling of the giant dam reservoir.
"We have successfully completed the first filling of the dam without harassing or harming anyone," Ahmed said. "The dam is now overflowing with water towards the estuary."
Ethiopia wants the hydroelectric dam to boost its energy exports, saying it will lift millions of people out of poverty.
Egypt fears that the dam will reduce the water supply to it, as it depends almost entirely on the Nile for agriculture, industry and the local use of water.