Today, Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi renewed his warning to Ethiopia against harming his country's rights in the waters of the Nile, while Addis Ababa confirmed its going ahead with the dam filling plan, and stressed its refusal to allow the entry of international observers on the crisis line.

Hours after the failure of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Kinshasa, the Egyptian president confirmed that options were open to respond to the slightest damage to Egypt.

"I say to the Ethiopians: We do not want to reach the stage of compromising a water point for Egypt, because all options are open," Sisi said in a speech.

The Egyptian President had said earlier that taking a single drop of Egypt's share in the Nile waters is considered a transgression of the red lines, and that it will be met by an earthquake response that leads to destabilization of the entire region.

And today, Wednesday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the Kinshasa meetings - which began last Saturday - did not achieve progress and did not lead to an agreement on the re-launch of the Renaissance Dam negotiations.

It accused Ethiopia of rejecting all the proposals and alternatives put forward by Egypt and supported by Sudan to push the negotiations forward. It also said that it rejected Sudan's proposal, which was supported by Cairo, to form a quadripartite committee for mediation.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry confirmed that the Ethiopian side was obstinate and obstructed any effort, and that Egypt and Sudan had provided a lot of flexibility in the negotiations, indicating that Cairo and Khartoum would move towards international parties.

To the Security Council

For her part, Sudanese Foreign Minister Maryam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi said, "The Ethiopian intransigence and Addis Ababa's insistence on the second filling without a binding agreement will make us think about options that preserve our interests and protect our people."

Al-Mahdi added that "the Ethiopian side rejected very persistently all the formulas and alternative solutions proposed by Sudan and Egypt confirming the absence of political will."

She stressed that Sudan will not neglect its national security despite its adherence to the peaceful approach.

"All options are open to us, including resorting to the UN Security Council," the Sudanese Minister of Irrigation said.

Earlier, the head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, renewed his country's demands that it have a role in operating and managing the Renaissance Dam because it affects its security.

On the other hand, Ethiopia is moving ahead with its plans to complete the construction and operation of the dam, and rejects the efforts of Egypt and Sudan to enter international mediators on the crisis line.

Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation, Seleshi Bagli, said that the attempt to expand the mediation aborted the role of the African Union and an attempt to obstruct the completion of the Grand Renaissance Dam.

He added, "We are ready to continue negotiations if Egypt and Sudan wished according to the agreement of principles and under African auspices ... and we will not accept any role for observers," stressing that the filling of the Renaissance Dam will take place on time.

The Ethiopian minister said that Sudan is the largest beneficiary of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and that the concerns he speaks about are counter to reality.

The Ethiopian official’s statements came after the latest round of negotiations on the dam failed, and accusations were exchanged about responsibility for that.

He added that "the concerns expressed by Sudan regarding the possibility that it will be affected by the second filling of the dam are unreal and contradictory to what Sudan witnessed last year, as the filling process took place naturally."

A source of stress and a lifeline

The project has been a source of tension between the three countries since its foundation stone was laid in April 2011.

The project is built on the Nile in northwestern Ethiopia, near the border with Sudan, and may become the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa with a declared capacity of about 6,500 megawatts.

Ethiopia insists that the hydropower generated by the dam will be vital to meeting the energy needs of its 110 million people.

As for Egypt - which depends on the Nile to provide about 97% of its irrigation and drinking water - it sees the dam as a threat to its existence.

Sudan fears that its dams will be damaged in the event that Ethiopia completely fill the dam before reaching an agreement.

It is noteworthy that the Nile River represents a lifeline and provides water and electricity to the ten countries it crosses.