A panel discussion organized by the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, in cooperation with Al Jazeera Mubasher, concluded that the Renaissance Dam, which is about to become operational next year, has become a reality, and that the three parties, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, should seek practical solutions that minimize potential damage and achieve the desired benefits.
It also concluded that Egypt needs to improve its relations with Sudan, solve the problem of border dispute over Halayeb and Shalateen, and support the democratic transformation in this country to enjoy stability, and thus find Cairo in Khartoum support and support on an important issue such as water, especially as Egypt - according to the seminar - Benefiting from the surplus water of Sudan's share of 18 billion cubic meters according to the 1959 agreement, it will be in the greatest need to maintain this quantity after reducing the amount after the operation of the Renaissance Dam.
The symposium, which was organized on the 30th of this month in the Qatari capital, under the title "Problems of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the open possibilities" - to exaggerate the risk of the dam as described by some speakers.
The Ethiopian side participating in the symposium that the agreement was with Cairo that if the rain is abundant and flood water abundant will fill the reservoir in a short period because - in this case - will not harm Egypt, but if there are "lean years" Ethiopia will not fill The reservoir is only for a reasonable period of time that does not cause harm to Egypt.
The discussions of the symposium finally clarified that the problem of the Renaissance Dam has exceeded the technical controversy and entered the field of political employment by the regimes in Egypt and Ethiopia, and that they exploit this dispute to settle internal accounts and achieve political gains.
Exaggeration in danger
The seminar began d. Abdel Wahab al-Afandi, a professor of political science at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said that Egyptians overestimated the damages caused by the Renaissance Dam, and that if Egypt had cooperated with Ethiopia in development projects, it would have been better for both countries.
Dr. Al-Efandi pointed out that Egypt's share comes not only from the White Nile, but also from the Blue Nile, and that this observation should not be forgotten when talking about the subject of water quotas.
He stressed the importance of moving towards the search for practical solutions to resolve the crisis, saying: In my opinion, there is an important point requested by Egypt for the intervention of international actors on the mediation line, the purpose of which is to seek international support to provide it and Ethiopia alike to compensate them and help resolve the dispute between them.
Al-Afandi pointed out that the Renaissance Dam for Sudan has many benefits, including the supply of electricity at economic prices, and solve the problem of silt that clogs canals and channels and requires money to clean them, as well as control the flow of water during the flooding of the Nile and prevent the losses caused.
Turning to the second participant of the symposium, Abdel Fattah Fayed, editor of Egyptian affairs at Al Jazeera, who pointed out that the Renaissance Dam is not the first dams built on the Nile will not be the last.
He added that the problem is not to prevent water because it is impossible to prevent the flow and imprisonment forever, but in the period of filling the reservoir, which if Ethiopia insisted that it be five years, not ten or seven as Egypt wants, which causes Bouar nearly a million acres of agricultural land, And the impoverishment of more than five million Egyptians working in agriculture in this affected area.
Fayed stressed that the bulk of the dam has been built, and that it has become a fait accompli, so it is expected to reach a settlement through negotiations, which he said is inevitable and irreplaceable, after the exclusion of military action.
The expert on African affairs d. Bader Al-Shafei said in his intervention a lot of what Fayed said, after referring to the expected damages on Egypt, he concluded that the total share of the Nile water reaching Egypt, which is about 55 billion cubic meters, almost meets the minimum and even the lowest, especially if we know that the population It reached 100 million people.
Is d. Al-Shafei said that the sense of the impact of the dam's construction and the danger of water scarcity may not appear immediately after its operation, due to the existence of a water reserve represented by Lake Nasser, but will appear within two or three years when the water level in this lake decreases, and the water passing through the High Dam, Then everyone in Egypt will feel the problem of the Renaissance Dam.
Ethiopian vision
The last intervention was from the capital Addis Ababa via satellite, in which Ambassador Mahmoud Dirir Gedi, Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on Ethiopia's position on the issue of the Renaissance Dam, said: The water quotas mentioned in international treaties and conventions were concluded during the colonial era did not take into account the interests of Ethiopia Although 80% of the Nile water falls on its territory and has an inherent right to use it.
The Ethiopian Ambassador reminded the participants that Sudan and Egypt have built dams on the Nile without consulting Addis Ababa, and concluded that his country has the right to build the Renaissance Dam without consulting anyone as long as it does not cause harm to others.