The seventh day of the negotiations for the Renaissance Dam between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan was concluded in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, under the auspices of the African Union and the participation of international observers, without achieving any consensus.
The Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation said that no agreement has yet been reached on technical or legal points in the negotiations for the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, stressing that differences between the three countries still exist in the negotiations for the seventh consecutive day.
The ministry added in a statement that it was agreed that each country would send a report on the progress of the negotiations, along with a report of the facts prepared by the country of South Africa as the current president of the African Union.
For its part, the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation said that the results of Wednesday's negotiations on the issues of mobilization, the mandatory agreement expected, and the dispute resolution mechanism were reviewed.
The meeting decided to continue negotiations next Sunday, with the final report to be submitted the following day as requested by the African Union presidency.
In turn, the spokesman for the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, Dina Mufti, explained that the Egyptian government is negotiating on the one hand, and it is called the failure of negotiations on the other hand, and said that despite the return of the Renaissance Dam file to the African Union, Egyptian efforts are still underway to internationalize it again.
Controversial points
Informed sources indicated that the contentious points related to the operation of the dam and the filling of the period of drought, prolonged drought and lack of rain. The lack of rain, so it is suggested to reserve water in stages so as not to harm the downstream countries.
She added that Cairo rejected the Ethiopian proposal, adhering to its share of water in the Nile, that is, 55.5 billion cubic meters under the 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan. The latter rejected this because it was not a party to these agreements.
Recently, a session of the UN Security Council discussed the Renaissance Dam crisis, supported the African Union’s intervention to resolve it, and called on the three countries to continue the dialogue.
Ethiopia is adhering to the filling and operation of the dam this July, while Egypt and Sudan refuse to add Addis Ababa to this step before reaching an agreement.
Egypt fears that its annual share of the Nile's waters will be compromised, while Addis Ababa says it does not aim to harm the interests of Egypt and Sudan, and that the aim of building the dam is to generate electricity and develop the country.