With the negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam continuing, amid controversy and technical and legal complications; Pictures obtained by Al-Jazeera showed the overall shape of the reservoir lake of the dam after the completion of the first filling last July.

Satellite images captured on August 12th showed an increase in the water area along about 90 km along the course of the Blue Nile.

According to the image analysis and measurements, the total area of ​​the lake doubled 5 times after filling to reach 255 square kilometers with a capacity estimated at more than 5 billion cubic meters.

Al-Jazeera cooperated with a team specialized in analyzing satellite images to calculate the shape of the changes that took place after the initial mobilization until mid-August.

The Sudanese expert, who specializes in satellite imagery, Ayman Kamel Hamdy, said that the images broadcast by Al-Jazeera will cause concern to the Egyptian and Sudanese governments, because the numbers are very frightening.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera, he indicated that the images showed that Ethiopia is storing about 160 million cubic meters daily, expecting to notice a shortage of water at the Sudanese-Ethiopian border point after the end of the rainy season.

In a related context, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Guido Andargacho said while speaking in an online youth forum, it is time to tell the correct story about the Nile River.

Under the slogan of the Nile River is the life and pride of Ethiopia, Andargachu spoke of Egypt's right to dominate the use of the Nile water, adding that "these old narratives must be replaced by the fair and equitable use of water for all the riparian countries of the Nile."

He explained that the Renaissance Dam will enable Ethiopia to generate 30,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power from the Nile River, indicating that this enormous potential will enable the country to deliver electricity to all Ethiopian people, expand industrial complexes, and create job opportunities, in addition to improving services.

Ongoing negotiations

For his part, the spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation, Mohamed El Sebaei, revealed the details of the negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to reach an agreement regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

Al-Sebaei said, during televised remarks on Sunday evening, that the negotiations will be completed today, Monday, after collecting the proposals of the three countries, and choosing a technical and legal member representing each country, noting that the final report will be submitted to South Africa, the current chair of the African Union, next Friday.

He pointed out that it is not possible to talk about progress or regression in the negotiations because "all that happened was the formulation of the proposals of the three countries."

This comes in light of the growing public anger at the policy of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi towards the Renaissance Dam crisis, especially with his refusal to use the military solution to address the crisis despite Ethiopia's continued filling of the dam without waiting for the conclusion of negotiations.

Egyptians also considered that the escalation of official talk about alternatives to Nile water is an admission by the regime of the failure of negotiations and its inability to solve the crisis.

Last week, Sisi directed the expansion of measures to alleviate the water deficit and improve water quality, within the framework of the state's strategy, which includes establishing projects for treatment and desalination plants with a total value of EGP 435 billion (the dollar is about 16 pounds), in addition to other projects to rationalize and reduce water losses.

Russian mediation

In turn, the Russian ambassador in Cairo, Georgy Borisenko, confirmed that Russia is trying to persuade Ethiopia to settle the dispute over the Renaissance Dam peacefully without harming its neighbors.

In an interview with the Egyptian Middle East News Agency, the ambassador said, "Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has sent repeated appeals to our Ethiopian partners, asking them to abide by the ongoing negotiations and to reach a tripartite agreement with Egypt and Sudan regarding the filling and operation of the Renaissance Dam."

He stressed that "it is impossible to change the geography, and therefore the countries of the Nile Basin must coexist today, tomorrow and after 100 years, and it is necessary to be able to solve all matters in a spirit of good neighborliness."

He explained Russia's understanding of the strategic meaning of the Nile River for Egypt and its people, and we also recognize Ethiopia's right to develop its economy, including the energy sector.

(A device cut off saying every sermon)
Satellite images obtained by Al-Jazeera confirmed that the Renaissance Dam lake has doubled 5 times since the announcement of the first filling, 15 times from last year, and that Ethiopia's daily water retention rate reaches 160 million cubic meters, in light of Silence of the graves of the coup system

- Ahmed Abdel-Gawad (@Ahmed_abdgwad) August 24, 2020

# My Ummah_the Egyptian People_The
Renaissance Dam is overrun the
water in Egypt and the problem that
the Egyptian people entails must return to awareness once again the correct awareness, not the misguided awareness of Ahmed Moussa and Omar Adib
# Egypt

- 🎭armout Egyptian 🎭 (@ oskaremad2) August 24, 2020

The Renaissance Dam negotiations round ended last Wednesday with an agreement to form a mini-committee that, with the participation of international observers, will prepare a unified draft agreement.

According to the agreement, a mini-committee will be formed for each country consisting of two persons, one of them technical and the other legal, which, with the participation of observers and experts from the African Union, the European Union and America, will undertake the task of compiling documents from the three countries and merging them into a single draft.

It is expected that the draft will be presented to the water and irrigation ministers of the three countries in preparation for submitting it to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who chairs the current session of the African Union on 28 August.