Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed said that Egypt and Ethiopia agree on the need to continue consultations to resolve the Renaissance Dam crisis, while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi praised the Ethiopian official, and Moscow proposed mediation between the two countries.

This came during a meeting between the Ethiopian and Egyptian leaderships held today on the sidelines of the Sochi summit in Russia, where the two sides discussed differences over the Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile River, to generate electricity, and Egypt fears its impact on its share of water.

Abe Ahmed said his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi touched on how to strengthen cooperation so that Ethiopia can benefit from the dam without harming Egypt.

He said that the problem in the Renaissance Dam crisis is the media and "reflecting the issues in a way that does not serve the wishes of the two peoples and governments," adding that he called on his Egyptian counterpart to support Ethiopia's efforts to increase vegetation cover by planting seedlings.

The Ethiopian official talked about African and Russian fears in the event of confrontations between Egypt and Ethiopia, and therefore must find the best solutions to solve the problem, stressing the absence of "obstacles to the continuation of negotiations."

Putin expresses Moscow's readiness to mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia (Reuters)

On the other hand, Sisi praised Abe and addressed him, saying: "I congratulate you on the Nobel Prize and you are a man of real peace."

Ambassador Bassam Radi said that Sisi's meeting with Abi Ahmed dealt with the file of the Renaissance Dam. Abi Ahmed explained that his recent statements before the Ethiopian Parliament on the dam file were broken out of context, and that his statements included expressing Ethiopia's commitment to the construction of the Renaissance Dam without attachment. Damage to my downstream state.

Rady explained that Sisi stressed during the meeting that Egypt has always shown openness and understanding of the developmental interests of the Ethiopian side to establish the Renaissance Dam, but at the same time adheres to its historical rights in the waters of the Nile.

The spokesman said Sisi made it clear that the Nile River is an artery of cooperation, brotherhood and development, and should not be a source of any problems or rivalries.

He added that it was agreed to immediately resume the work of the independent technical research committee in order to reach a final vision on the rules of filling and operation of the dam, and to overcome any negative repercussions resulting from the media handling of the recent statements attributed to the Ethiopian side.

mediation
The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed Moscow's readiness to mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve the dispute over the Renaissance Dam and the waters of the Nile.

"We are always ready to mediate, provided that we are asked to do so. We have excellent relations with Addis Ababa and Cairo, and we know about this and we have discussed it a lot," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian special representative for the Middle East and Africa were quoted as saying. Our efforts have been welcome. We will always be ready to help in this and other issues. "

The talks are the first after an Ethiopian threat to use the military option and the possibility of fighting a war to protect the Renaissance Dam, and an Egyptian statement expressed shock at those statements and accept US mediation.

On Tuesday, local Ethiopian media quoted Prime Minister Abe Ahmed in a speech to parliament saying that "war cannot be a solution. If necessary, Ethiopia can mobilize one million people. No force can prevent Ethiopia from building the dam." ".

With the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Tuesday evening, her country's rejection of those statements and accept Washington's call for a tripartite dialogue includes Addis Ababa and Khartoum.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed its "shock and follow-up with great concern and great regret the statements conveyed by the media and attributed to Prime Minister Abi Ahmed before the Ethiopian Parliament, which included negative signals and unacceptable hints related to how to deal with the file of the Renaissance Dam."

Ethiopia has repeatedly said that negotiations have not reached a dead end, and that Egypt is demanding "amazing things", according to previous statements by the Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Salshi Bagli.

Cairo fears a possible negative impact of the dam on the flow of its annual share of the Nile River water, which amounts to 55 billion cubic meters, while Sudan gets 18.5 billion.