The African Union held an emergency meeting today, Friday, to discuss the developments of the Renaissance Dam crisis, while Ethiopia began practical steps towards filling the reservoir of the dam, which Egypt sees as a threat to its water security.
The emergency African meeting was launched Friday afternoon via video, chaired by Cyril Ramafuza, President of South Africa, President of the current session of the African Union.
Representatives of Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya participate in the meeting, along with Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
For his part, President of the African Commission, Moussa Faki, said he believed that African solutions to African problems were needed.
Faki indicated during his meeting with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister that the African Union will support the three countries to solve their differences through negotiations.
Next Monday, the UN Security Council will discuss the developments of the Renaissance Dam crisis, which Ethiopia has erected on the banks of the Blue Nile and Egypt and Sudan object to how it can be exploited.
A practical step for
its part, Ethiopia started today the process of deforestation, as a prelude to filling the reservoir of the Renaissance Dam, according to what was stated by the official of development projects in the region of "Bani Shanqoul" Bashir Abdel Rahim.
Abdel-Rahim said that the logging process in the forests includes an area of one thousand hectares in preparation for the mobilization process, and he expected it to be completed within a month of its launch. 20,000 workers participate in cutting the forests surrounding the dam.
For his part, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Guido Andaragashio, in remarks to German News Agency, reiterated his country's intention to start filling the Lake of the Renaissance Dam even without reaching an agreement with Egypt and Sudan in this regard.
"In the coming months, we will start filling the lake of the dam, even if there is no agreement between the three countries," the minister said, but he expressed his country's hope to reach an agreement with Egypt and Sudan.
He added that Egypt's "insistence" on controlling the flow of water is difficult, and said, "We will not allow this with our water source."
Earlier, Sudan called on the UN Security Council to discourage all parties from any unilateral measures, including starting filling the dam reservoir before reaching an agreement.
Ethiopia says the electricity expected to be generated from the dam is vital to boosting development projects in the country of more than 100 million people.
On the other hand, Egypt sees the dam as a threat to its water security and opposes filling and operating rules that Ethiopia intends to implement.