Last October, former US President Donald Trump talked about the Renaissance Dam crisis with a remarkable statement during a call with the Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, where he attacked the Ethiopian position, and stressed that "the situation is very dangerous, and that Egypt cannot continue this situation." And the dam will end up blowing up. "
But the situation looks different in the era of the new US President, Joe Biden;
In a significant sign, the regional spokesman for the US State Department, Samuel Warburg, said that the Biden administration believes that there is an opportunity for a negotiated solution on the Renaissance Dam, and expects that from the three countries.
Warburg stressed - during his speech on the "90 Minutes" program on Al Mehwar Channel, a private Egyptian channel close to the Authority - the need for the three countries to reach a negotiated solution to the crisis, adding, "We have the opportunity to play a positive role in mediation, coordination or technical assistance." The Biden administration is currently studying the issue, and is studying everything that was reached during the Trump administration regarding the Grand Renaissance Dam issue.
Warburg's statements came against the expectations of the report published by Al-Monotor last month, in which he indicated that the administration of US President Joe Biden is interested in the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam file, and that Anthony Blinken, the US President-elect Joe Biden's candidate for the position of Secretary of State, warned that The Renaissance Dam talks could "boil" and escalate unless a solution is found.
The American position did not deviate from Egyptian expectations, as Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, former Egyptian Foreign Minister, said in televised statements at the end of last January that he did not expect the Biden administration to take positions in support of the Egyptian position on the issue of the Renaissance Dam in the short term, explaining that it would focus on The first 6 months on the electoral positions.
He indicated that he does not expect significant results in the Egyptian, Arab-American relations during the coming period, stressing the importance of making use of the new administration to confirm the effective and influential role in various issues.
This was confirmed by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in a telephone conversation with the journalist Amr Adib, during which he indicated that the contacts between the Egyptian and American administrations currently do not go beyond the level of the embassy and the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Council, and that Egypt is neither concerned nor optimistic, and is still waiting for a position. The new administration in Washington on many regional issues.
It seems that both Egypt and Ethiopia are not currently feeling completely comfortable with Washington's intentions, and the two countries are trying to hedge this by contracting with American lobbying companies, as the Egyptian embassy in Washington signed a contract with the "Brownstein Hayat Farber" for a year, at a value of $ 65,000 a month, in When the Ethiopian embassy in Washington signed a contract worth 35 thousand dollars a month with the "Venable" legal consulting firm.
It is reported that Egypt and Sudan called on Ethiopia not to start filling the dam before reaching a legally binding agreement on how to manage water flows during dry periods or dry rainy seasons.
But last July, after an unusual rainy season, Ethiopia announced that it had completed the first phase of filling the dam, angering Cairo and Khartoum.
Ambiguity still hangs over the stalled Renaissance Dam crisis, as Egypt is seeking to reach through negotiations a binding agreement that guarantees a legal mechanism for resolving disputes before the dam starts operating, in light of Egyptian fear of a severe drought resulting from the dam’s seizure of the Nile waters, upon which Egypt fully depends.
In turn, Sudan adheres to expanding the umbrella of mediators during the Renaissance Dam talks to put more pressure on Ethiopia, especially before the second filling of the dam next July, which Sudan sees as a direct threat to its national security, according to Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas told AFP.
As for Ethiopia, it always stresses that it will not stop work on the dam project, which it relies on in the country's renaissance for any reason, which is what Egypt and Sudan consider to be a de facto policy imposition and a violation of international conventions.