Officials said in Cairo and Khartoum Friday evening that the leaders of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt agreed that Ethiopia will not start filling the Renaissance Dam without reaching an agreement between the three countries within two weeks.

There was no comment from Addis Ababa about this agreement, and it has previously said it will start filling the Renaissance Dam it is building on the Blue Nile, the source of most of the Nile’s waters, 15 km from its border with Sudan.

The Egyptian presidency stated in a statement that Ethiopia will not take any unilateral measures regarding filling the dam reservoir, following a summit held via remote video technology that brought together the leaders of the three countries and officials of the African Union.

The Sudanese News Agency quoted Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamduk as saying that the leaders agreed to resume the talks that were suspended last week, adding that the negotiations would resume through a technical committee.

The agreement, reached yesterday at a meeting of the Presidency of the African Union Office with representatives of the three countries, will be sent to the UN Security Council before a plenary session scheduled for Monday at the request of the United States, which supported Egypt and Sudan's call to the Council to help solve the crisis.

In turn, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki said that the leaders of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt agreed that the Union would lead negotiations to resolve outstanding issues on the Renaissance Dam crisis, adding that the leaders of the three countries "showed wise leadership" at the meeting.

Seek a binding agreement for everyone

In the same context, a statement by the Egyptian presidency stated that both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed agreed to form a governmental committee from the three countries with international participation to crystallize a final legal agreement binding on all parties regarding the rules for filling and operating the Renaissance Dam. .

The statement added that it was agreed to refrain from any unilateral actions, including the filling of the dam before reaching this agreement.

The Egyptian statement said that the initial agreement reached yesterday will be sent to the Security Council for consideration when its meeting is held next Monday.

For his part, the Sudanese cabinet affirmed that it was agreed to postpone the filling of the Renaissance Dam reservoir until after signing an agreement that preserves the interests of the three countries. He called for the start of negotiations at the technical committee level immediately, with a view to reaching an agreement within two weeks.

The mini-African summit was convened at the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramovosa and attended by Sisi, Hamdock, Abi Ahmed, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Felix Tshisekedi, Prime Minister of Mali Ibrahim Boubaker Keita and Chairman of the African Union Commission Musa Faki.

Vital project

The Renaissance Dam, which Addis Ababa began building in 2011, will, upon its completion, become the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, but this vital project of Ethiopia has sparked sharp differences between it and both Sudan and Egypt, with which they share the waters of the Nile.

Although the three countries entered into negotiations on this dam, they have not yet been able to reach an agreement, especially on the rules for filling and operating the dam's reservoir.

As negotiations faltered, Addis Ababa announced its intention to start filling the Dam Lake from next July, in a step Cairo had responded by referring the file to the UN Security Council.

Ethiopia says the electricity expected to be generated from the Renaissance Dam, which it is building on the Blue Nile, is of vital importance for advancing development projects in the impoverished country of more than 100 million people.

But Egypt says that the dam threatens the flow of the Nile waters, most of which originate from the Blue Nile and its repercussions may be devastating to its economy, water and food resources.