Perhaps out of embarrassment, a Sudanese government spokesman denied that the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Yasser Abbas, had reported that an Egyptian-Ethiopian rapprochement had taken place independently of Sudan in the Renaissance Dam negotiations, but confirmed information stated that the minister raised in a private meeting many concerns.
The Sudanese Minister of Irrigation - according to a reliable source inside the ministry overlooking the Blue Nile in Khartoum - spoke in a special meeting about the Egyptian-Ethiopian rapprochement that the negotiating delegation had noticed in the case of the Renaissance Dam in recent weeks.
Rather, the minister went on to say that the dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, about 20 kilometers from the borders of Sudan, will be a pity for the 20 million Sudanese living on the banks of the Nile if a binding agreement is not reached to regulate the filling and operation of the dam.
Sudan has always counted many benefits from the Renaissance Dam, but last July, it swallowed the results of Ethiopia unilaterally starting the initial filling of the dam, which forced the Nile drinking water stations out of service due to a sudden decline of the Nile, according to Sudanese officials.
An Ethiopian gambit
According to the First Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Information, Saeed Yaqoub, direct damage to the Nile stations would not have occurred in light of coordination between the two countries, or the adoption of Ethiopia gradually over the three months of the flood.
Yaqoub denies that the Minister of Irrigation has stated the occurrence of an Ethiopian-Egyptian rapprochement at the expense of Sudan, but at the same time he indicates that Sudan is closer to Egypt in the legal aspects of negotiation, and closer to Ethiopia in the technical aspects.
The negotiations between the three countries completed an agreement on the Renaissance Dam by 95%, and 5 technical points related to filling and operation, and 3 legal points are still pending.
According to the source who spoke to Al-Jazeera Net, Ethiopia is likely to be maneuvering by its rapprochement with the Egyptian side in the Renaissance Dam negotiations, after Sudan showed its unusual intransigence in the negotiations.
The source indicated that Sudan rejected last May Ethiopia’s proposal to sign a partial agreement for the first filling of the dam and discuss the agreement on operating later, and last month refused Addis Ababa’s unilateral action to start filling the dam without an agreement, as well as expressing concerns for the first time related to the safety of the Rossires dam. Its lake is about 100 kilometers from the Renaissance Dam.
Notes of danger
The head of the technical committee to negotiate the Renaissance Dam, Saleh Hamad - Head of the Technical Authority for Water Resources at the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation - explains that there is a risk to the Roseires Dam because operating the Renaissance Dam without informing Sudan about the daily disposal of water, could damage the turbines of the Roseires Dam when its lake is full. .
Hamad says to Al-Jazeera Net that the safety of the Roseires dam has been guaranteed in the construction aspect of the Renaissance Dam, but the safety of the Sudanese dam must be guaranteed by signing a binding agreement related to the operation of the Ethiopian dam, including the right to see the daily change of water discharges.
The Rossires dam was established in 1966, 550 km south of Khartoum, for irrigation and electricity generation purposes. The ancient Sennar reservoir to the north of it also helps to store water for irrigation of the Al-Jazeera agricultural project with an area of 2.2 million acres.
The head of the technical committee to negotiate the Renaissance Dam avoids commenting on whether there is an Egyptian-Ethiopian rapprochement during the negotiations, but he says that the occurrence of rapprochement and divergence here and there means the correctness of Sudan's position based only on preserving its interests.
Tactical request
Hamad added that Sudan had previously rejected Ethiopia's proposal with a partial agreement because it harms the Rosiers Dam, and the past two days refused to include the redistribution of water in the agenda to change the negotiation path, which prompted the Sudanese negotiator to request a time limit as a tactical option.
At the beginning of the resumption of negotiations on filling and operating the Renaissance Dam, at the invitation of the African Union last Monday, the Sudanese delegation requested that the negotiations be postponed for a week.
Hamad asserts that Ethiopia, last July, began talking indirectly about the redistribution of the waters of the Nile, saying that it did not want to sign a binding agreement because it would prevent it from establishing other projects on the Nile, although Sudan submitted proposals in this regard that won the approval of observers.
According to an agreement signed in 1959, Egypt annually gets 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile water, while Sudan gets 18.5 billion cubic meters.
A binding agreement
The source of the Ministry of Irrigation stated that the Ethiopians proposed in the negotiations the re-division of water instead of the technical negotiation governed by the agenda of the principles agreement signed between the three countries in 2015, which means that 10 countries will enter the water division line.
The source says that the minister said in his "private meeting" that Sudan wanted a binding agreement stipulating the exchange of data for filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam throughout the day and the hour, in order to ensure the safety of the Rosiers Dam and Sennar Reservoir, and so that Ethiopia would not separately control the river's water.
Sudan also wants - according to the source - to resort to international experts in the event of a future dispute, while Addis Ababa insists on the reference of the team of experts from the three countries, with resorting to the ministerial or presidential committee to resolve any disputes.
Ethiopia began building the Renaissance Dam in 2011, with a storage capacity of 74 billion cubic meters, to generate 6 thousand megawatts of electricity.