Five-year agreement in Washington paves the way for resolving the Renaissance Dam crisis

Mohammed Al-Minshawi-Washington

The US Treasury has announced that parties to the dispute over the Renaissance Dam, as well as the United States and the World Bank, have reached a tentative agreement defusing the years-old crisis.

After the three-day long talks in Washington, the parties agreed to meet on January 28 and 29 in Washington to discuss the final image of the agreement.

The agreement came from six points covering technical issues in a manner agreed by the three parties.

The US Treasury Department statement stated that the ministers of the three countries (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia) expressed their commitment to reach a comprehensive cooperation agreement on filling and operating the Renaissance Dam reservoir.

Trump's role
Washington has witnessed the end of the last round of the Renaissance Dam negotiations at the level of foreign and water ministers in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, with the participation of observers from the US Treasury and the World Bank.

US President Donald Trump met on Tuesday night, January 14, with the participating ministers and urged them to "understand each other," according to a White House statement.

The statement pointed out that the US President "supports reaching an agreement between the parties based on cooperation, sustainability and mutual benefit."

A diplomatic source told Al Jazeera Net that Washington is aware of the nature and complexities of the positions of the three countries, and for this reason the level of expectations has been reduced from the current negotiating round.

He added that the appearance of the American president twice with the negotiating delegations had important indications that reached the concerned capitals of the necessity of resolving differences and retreating in some points.

"Washington knows the parties' positions well and also knows that there are limits that can be retracted in technical issues from the three countries. Washington does not want Trump to appear as incapable of resolving a regional problem among Washington's allies," the diplomatic source said.

Cairo and Addis Ababa had differed radically during the last four rounds, on basic technical points in the file of the dam, related to the period of filling the dam and the rules of its operation.

Qualified broker
A number of experts pointed out that Washington has carried out environmental studies for many years on the Nile River basin, which qualifies it to play a role in the technical issues in dispute.

According to a report issued by the World Bank, 66% of the population of Ethiopia lives without electricity, which is one of the highest in the world, and it is expected that the Renaissance Dam will provide 6.45 gigawatts of electricity, which will meet the needs of millions of Ethiopians from electricity.

Representatives of the US Treasury participated directly in the negotiations, in addition to senior officials of the World Bank, which oversees the implementation of many development projects in Ethiopia, especially in the area of ​​infrastructure.

Boston University professor Robert Lovitz told Al Jazeera Net about Washington's role in the Renaissance Dam crisis, and said, "The Trump administration believes in its ability to play a mediation role because of its good relationship with the two countries, Egypt and Ethiopia, as it is the largest country providing aid to the two countries. At the same time, Washington is the largest contributor to a budget. The World Bank".

It is worth noting that Washington entered the Al-Nahdha Dam line with an Egyptian request and an Ethiopian welcome after negotiations between the two countries reached a dead end last October.