Egypt announced last Saturday that negotiations on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have reached a dead end. While stressing its readiness to protect its historic right to the Nile waters, it also called for an international mediator to bridge the gap between the parties concerned.

The main stakeholders are the upstream country: Ethiopia, the crossing state Sudan, and the downstream state Egypt.

But the construction of the dam also concerns the rest of the Nile Basin countries: Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Eritrea and South Sudan.

The most important information and figures related to the dam are presented below.

Site
The Renaissance Dam is located on the Blue Nile in the state of Bani Shanqul Qamaz, northwest of Ethiopia, and is between twenty and forty kilometers from the Ethiopian-Sudanese border.

Ethiopia began construction of the dam in 2011 and is expected to be completed in 2020.

Specifications
It is the largest hydroelectric dam on the African continent and the 10th largest globally in the list of the largest electricity producing dams.

It has a height of about 145 meters, a length of about 1800 meters, a storage capacity of 74 billion cubic meters of water, and will contain 15 units to produce electricity

the cost
The total cost is estimated to be around $ 5 billion, and the Ethiopian government has said it is funding the entire project.

Project Nation
Addis Ababa is counting on the dam to achieve a comprehensive development renaissance and the production of 6,000 megawatts of electricity, the equivalent of six nuclear power plants.

Once the dam is operational, Ethiopia will become Africa's largest energy exporter.

Addis Ababa sees the Renaissance Dam as the project of the Ethiopian nation of more than 105 million people, most of them below the poverty line, and as the high dam for the Egyptians.

Sudanese gains
It is expected that the dam will help Sudan to control its floods, especially at the Rosers Dam, and by storing the Blue Nile silt, which will prolong the life of the Sudanese dams.

Sudan will also receive large quantities of continuous electricity at very low prices for costly thermal generation.

On the other hand, there are fears that the construction of the dam will inundate about half a million acres of Sudanese agricultural land and the displacement of about 30 thousand citizens near the area of ​​the dam.

The biggest loser
On the other hand, Egypt will be the most affected, as it fears the impact of the dam on the level of the Nile River, which depends on it by more than 95% to secure its water needs.

Egypt is based on historical rights under the 1929 and 1959 agreements, which give it 87 percent of the Nile's water, an estimated 55 billion cubic meters annually.

Egypt also has the right to approve irrigation projects in upstream countries.

But Ethiopia says it refuses to recognize directly or indirectly any previous water-sharing treaty.

Controversial points
Controversial points relate to the rules of operation of the dam, water drainage and how to deal with years of drought. Ethiopia last month rejected a proposal by Egypt to operate the dam.
Addis Ababa did not say how much water it wanted, while Egypt insists that at least 40 billion cubic meters of dam flow annually.

But the dispute rages mainly over the length of the filling of the dam lake, while Ethiopia wants to fill the lake in a period of four to seven years Egypt believes that this period is short and that it will limit the flow of water to it.

Principles document
On March 23, 2015, the leaders of the three countries signed a document of principles on the Renaissance Dam, following high-level diplomatic efforts to overcome differences.

Under the document, Egypt recognizes Ethiopia's right to build the dam in exchange for the latter's pledges to participate in Cairo's administration.

Impasse
But Egypt announced on October 5, 2019 that the talks on the dam had reached a “dead end” due to “Ethiopian side hardening” demanding an international mediator to intervene in the negotiations.

"I affirm that the Egyptian state, with all its institutions, is committed to protecting the Egyptian water rights in the Nile waters and continues to take the necessary measures at the political level and within the limits of international law to protect these rights," said President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. .

Ethiopia immediately rejected the Egyptian government's proposal to invite a third party to the Renaissance Dam discussions.

In its statement, the Foreign Ministry affirmed the adherence to the principles of equitable and reasonable use of the dam water, and not to cause any significant harm to any other riparian state in the use of the Nile water.

"The government will continue to take an approach that does not lead to the direct or indirect recognition of any previous water-sharing treaty," the Ethiopian statement said.

"Ethiopia will strengthen its efforts to achieve the development of its water resources to meet the current and future needs of its people who deserve development and an adequate standard of living," he added.