The Ethiopian government announced Tuesday, July 21 that the level of filling, planned for the first year, of the reservoir of the giant dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile and which is a source of great tensions with neighboring Egypt and Sudan, is achieved.

"It has become evident with these last two weeks of the rainy season, that the first year of filling of the Gerd (Great Renaissance Dam) has been completed and the dam under construction is already overflowing," the Premier's office said in a statement. Ethiopian Minister, Abiy Ahmed.

Called to become the largest hydroelectric facility in Africa, the Great Renaissance Dam, built on the Blue Nile (which joins the White Nile in Sudan to form the Nile), has been a source of strong tensions with Egypt since 2011. .

A vital threat

Ethiopia considers the Gerd to be essential for its economic development, while Egypt, whose irrigation and drinking water depend 90% on the Nile, sees it as a vital threat.

Addis Ababa had several times announced that it intended to start filling the dam reservoir in July, at an unspecified date, in the middle of the rainy season.

Egypt and Sudan, for their part, believed that a comprehensive agreement on the dam - and in particular how it is managed - had to be reached before the filling began. 

Tuesday's meeting called at the AU's call was aimed at moving discussions forward as no agreement has been reached so far.

Ethiopia last week admitted that the level of water retained by the dam was rising, saying this was a direct consequence of the progress of the construction.

"A common vision" of the three countries

In the first year, the Gerd was to hold 4.9 billion cubic meters of water, to allow Ethiopia to test the first set of turbines. The total capacity of the reservoir is 74 billion cubic meters of water.

In its statement, Ethiopia did not indicate exactly how much water had already entered the reservoir. It also did not specify whether the filling had been carried out exclusively in a "natural" way or whether concrete actions had been taken to speed it up.

According to this press release, Tuesday's meeting allowed the three countries concerned to agree on a "common vision" to lead to a comprehensive agreement. However, further "technical discussions on filling" are needed before such an agreement can be reached.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, for his part, insisted that Sudan rejects "any unilateral measure taken by a country", Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water, Yasser Abbas, told reporters. .

With AFP

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