As the crisis of building, filling and operating the Renaissance Dam between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia worsened, Cairo and Addis Ababa doubled their efforts in Washington to push President Joe Biden's administration to stand in the side of each of them.

And the two countries resorted to promoting the official narrative adopted by each country towards the crisis in the American circles, and the two countries used a number of lobbying and public relations companies to polish their image and push the staff of the US administration and members of Congress to understand their position.

The Justice Ministry documents - which Al Jazeera Net viewed - revealed that Ethiopia was using a new lobbying company to communicate with Congress and the Biden administration, at a time when the country is locked in a diplomatic crisis with Egypt over the dam.

The Ethiopian Embassy in Washington signed a contract worth 35,000 dollars a month with the "Venable" legal consulting firm earlier this month, for an initial period of 3 months, with the possibility of extending it.

In accordance with the terms of the contract, the US company will provide "a government relations service that may include liaison with members of Congress, ministries and the Biden administration," and will be supervised by attorney Thomas Quinn and political advisor Lauren Ahue.

This new contract comes at a time when Ethiopia is under increasing pressure in Washington on several fronts.

From the Renaissance Dam crisis to the internal tensions it is witnessing in its eastern provinces.

Ethiopia's recent contract was not the first of its kind. The government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had previously signed a contract with Barnes & Thornburg for $ 130,000 per month during the period from June 30 to September 30.

The Ministry of Justice documents revealed that Barnes & Thornberg was focused exclusively on the issue of the Renaissance Dam through its contacts with several congressional offices, as well as officials in the National Security Council, the State Department and the Treasury Department. Former President Donald Trump had left the US Treasury to manage negotiations on Dam crisis.

Ethiopia has succeeded in attracting members of both houses of African descent to its side.

A statement was issued by the Caucus Association of African descent on June 23 stating that the "Black Caucus" in Congress urges the United States and all other international actors to respect the 2015 Tripartite Declaration of Principles Agreement signed between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and to continue To play a neutral role, and only seek advice from the African Union and diplomats on the ground in the region.

The statement stressed the central role of the African Union in the negotiations on the Renaissance Dam crisis, which represented a blow to the Trump administration's attempts to marginalize the role of the African Union.

Ethiopia is promoting in American circles that the dam project is a development work that produces the electrical energy needed to light the homes of millions of Ethiopians who have not yet entered the electricity into their villages, and that the dam is a vital priority for development.

And Ethiopia's image in the US capital is facing a major crisis due to ethnic tensions in the northern Tigray region, where an armed conflict occurred.

Jake Sullivan, before becoming President Biden's national security adviser, last November warned of "potential war crimes", and urged the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front to start negotiations supervised by the African Union.

Members of the Ethiopian army on the front after their fight against rebels in Tigray region (Reuters)

Egyptian contracts

Egypt preceded Ethiopia to contract with new lobbying companies in anticipation of Biden's arrival to power, and Egypt is pressing in an attempt to persuade his administration to follow the example of the Trump administration in supporting the Egyptian position.

In the aftermath of Trump's defeat in the election, the Egyptian embassy in Washington moved quickly to sign a year-long contract with Braunstein Hayat Farber, valued at $ 65,000 a month.

Cairo had tried to exploit the special relations that had brought President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Trump, as Trump gathered the parties to the conflict in the White House, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and this prompted him to suspend some aid to Ethiopia last September.

The former head of the Foreign Relations Committee, Ed Royce, manages the Egyptian file in the company, and his team includes former Alaska Senator Mark Bigich, and Nadim al-Shami, the former chief of staff for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Al-Jazeera Net reviewed an email sent by Royce to a number of members of the House of Representatives and their assistants, urging them to participate remotely in a seminar organized by the Egyptian Embassy in Washington on the Renaissance Dam and Nile water crisis early this month.

"As you know, the negotiations surrounding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have stopped, and without an implementable agreement, the construction of the dam will have major environmental repercussions, whether for the people of Egypt and Sudan or on the regional ecosystems of the Nile," Royce's message said.

A number of members of the Egyptian negotiating team for the Renaissance Dam file participated in the symposium, including Professor of Irrigation and Hydraulics at Cairo University, Hisham Bakhit, and Assistant Professor of Law at Ohio University Mohamed Hilal, who works as an advisor to the Egyptian Foreign Minister.

The company "provides government relations services and strategic advice on issues before the US government," according to the contract documented on the US Department of Justice website.

Ed Royce directs the Egypt case at Brownstein Hayat Farber (Associated Press)

Biden's position

During Trump's rule, Cairo's pressure succeeded in issuing an official US statement calling for the necessity of reaching an agreement between the parties concerned before filling the dam reservoirs.

The negotiations, which were conducted under US supervision and with the participation of the World Bank, were the result of an Egyptian invitation. However, they reached a dead end after Ethiopia rejected the US initiative that it presented to the parties regarding rules related to the period of filling the dam and the method of its operation.

Since Biden came to power on the 20th of last month, none of the members of his administration have addressed the Renaissance Dam crisis, and it is not yet known how it will be addressed, and if the commentators have preferred to adopt a neutral stance.

Washington enjoys good relations with Egypt and Ethiopia, despite the negative image due to their poor human rights and anti-democratic practices.

Ethiopia is a strong ally of Washington in East Africa, and a study by the Congressional Research Service indicated that "Ethiopia plays an important role in confronting Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups in the Horn of Africa."

In promoting its position, Ethiopia relies on the humanitarian dimension supported by official reports issued by the World Bank, which indicate Ethiopia's urgent need for electric energy.

At the same time, Cairo has important relations with Washington as a result of its policies in the Middle East and North Africa.

Therefore, there may be no alternative to Washington's mediation between the two parties in a way that avoids the negative aspects of Trump's mediation.