A trilateral meeting between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan continues to bridge the views of the Renaissance Dam. While Cairo demanded that no unilateral action be taken before an agreement was reached, Addis Ababa seemed determined to implement the plan to fill and run the dam's reservoir soon.
Today, Wednesday, the irrigation ministers of the three countries continued a meeting via video technology to discuss the resumption of negotiations on the dam, which has become a cause of great tension between Egypt and Ethiopia.
The Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation said today that the meeting held yesterday did not reach a result, and it is difficult to say that it was positive.
She added in a statement that there is a trend in Ethiopia to reopen the debate on all issues, while sticking to the start of the mobilization of the dam next month.
The ministry called on Addis Ababa to announce that no unilateral action was taken by it to mobilize the dam until the end of the negotiation and reach an agreement, stressing that this negotiation be in accordance with a document prepared by the World Bank and the United States in February. Egypt had signed the document in initials, while Ethiopia had refused to sign it.
In contrast, the Ethiopian Ministry of Irrigation, Water and Energy said that there was no consensus in the discussions and opinions on the role of the monitors.
According to the ministry, in a statement, accordingly, the upcoming meetings will be limited to discussing the initial mobilization and operation of the dam, noting that Ethiopia is ready to resolve the differences through dialogue.
In the same context, the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation spoke about an initiative that it called "the compromise document" to overcome the Egyptian-Ethiopian dispute.
A timetable
There was no statement from the hypothetical meeting that the irrigation ministers of the three countries held on Tuesday, which indicates a stalemate in the talks aimed at resolving the dispute over the Renaissance Dam, which is expected to be completed in 2021.
Although Sudanese Minister of Irrigation Yasser Abbas talked about a positive spirit in the trilateral meeting, and about holding more meetings at the ambassadorial level this week, Egyptian and Ethiopian statements indicate that the talks are still in a dead end.
Egypt announced a return to the tripartite negotiations, but demanded a timetable so that these negotiations do not become a new tool for procrastination and derogation from the obligations, referring to previous Egyptian accusations that Ethiopia had retreated from signing a draft agreement concluded by Washington-sponsored talks.
The Egyptian presidency welcomed the new talks between the three countries on the Renaissance Dam, considering it a test of the political will to reach an agreement.
In a statement issued today, the Egyptian presidency said that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed with the US President Donald Trump the issue of the Renaissance Dam.
Ethiopia says the dam project, which was estimated to cost five billion dollars, is vital for its economic growth, in light of its efforts to become the largest source of electric energy in Africa, but it raises concern in Egypt, which is already suffering from a scarcity in the water supplies of the Nile River, which depends on its population of more than one hundred Almost a million people.
The dispute between the three countries - which caused the stopping of previous negotiations - focuses on filling and operating the dam being constructed near Ethiopia's borders with Sudan over the Blue Nile that flows into the Nile. Earlier, tension between Egypt and Ethiopia reached the point of waving a military confrontation.
It was expected that the three countries would conclude an agreement in Washington sponsored by America and the World Bank last February regarding filling and operating the dam, but Ethiopia failed to meet, and denied reaching an agreement, and Egypt only signed it in the initials.