Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rejected the assumption that the Renaissance Dam negotiations would fail, proposing to hold a meeting of the African Union in order to end the stalemate in the dam negotiations that his country is building on the Blue Nile, despite differences in details with the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan.
Ahmed said that the way forward in the negotiations of the Renaissance Dam is to request the President of the African Union to call a meeting of the Bureau of the African Union Conference, and added that the assumption of the failure of the Renaissance Dam negotiations is not correct, as there are tangible results such as the signing of the Declaration of Principles.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister praised the mediation of the African Union, stressing that if the parties negotiate in good faith, it will be possible to reach tangible results.
Ahmed's comments came in a message he sent to his Sudanese counterpart Abdullah Hamdok in response to the latter's call to hold a tripartite summit in Khartoum to save the Renaissance Dam negotiations, according to a statement by the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister announced that the second filling of the Renaissance Dam will be in July and August (communication sites)
On March 23, 2015, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia signed the Declaration of Principles for the Renaissance Dam, which is a framework agreement to demonstrate good intentions.
On April 13, Hamdok called in a letter addressed to his Egyptian counterparts, Mostafa Madbouly, and Ahmed, to hold a closed tripartite meeting within 10 days to assess the Renaissance Dam negotiations.
"The message sent by the prime minister also cited the Kinshasa meeting, and the understanding that was reached on the resumption of the stalled tripartite negotiations led by the African Union," the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry statement issued today stated.
On April 6, a round of negotiations ended in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, without "progress", according to statements by Khartoum and Cairo. Addis Ababa adhered to the second filling without reaching an agreement first.
Khartoum had submitted a proposal supported by Cairo for quadripartite mediation consisting of the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the United States, to resolve the dispute with Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam, but Addis Ababa rejected it, confirming its adherence to negotiations sponsored by the African Union only.
Addis Ababa insists on a second filling of the dam with water, next July, even if no agreement is reached, at a time when Egypt and Sudan adhere to first reaching a tripartite agreement that preserves their water facilities and ensures the continued flow of their annual share of the Nile water.