Yesterday, Saturday, Sudan announced the storage of 1.6 billion cubic meters of water to secure the levels in the Nile and the White Nile, in anticipation of the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, while Addis Ababa expected the filling to be completed in the current rainy season, considering it a historic event for the country.
Mutassim Al-Awad, Director of the Reservoirs Department at the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources, said, "We took precautions to mitigate the impact of filling the Renaissance Dam so that last year's problem would not be repeated, and we kept in the Jebel Awliya reservoir (south of the capital, Khartoum) about 600 million cubic meters to meet the filling of the Renaissance Dam in July, to be We have reasonable levels in the White Nile and the Nile River."
In a video clip broadcast by the ministry's Facebook page, Al-Awad confirmed that at the end of this month, Sudan will have a stockpile of about one billion cubic meters in the Roseires reservoir.
He added that the 1.6 billion cubic meters will provide us with levels in the Nile and the White Nile, noting that Ethiopia's storage of water in the first filling of the Renaissance Dam in July 2020 was done without notifying the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation, which resulted in the exit of all drinking stations in the two states of Khartoum. And the Nile River (north) out of service.
The Roseires Dam administration in Sudan revealed that the water supply from the Blue Nile continued to decrease by up to 50%, and warned that delaying the resumption of negotiations would jeopardize the Roseires dam.
The Egyptian Minister of Irrigation, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, also affirmed - Friday - that his country is keen to complete the negotiations on the Renaissance Dam, "to reach a just and binding legal agreement that meets everyone's aspirations for development."
The Egyptian minister's comments came after President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said Thursday that his country had taken measures to confront any possible water shortage.
On the other hand, a member of the Ethiopian negotiating team, Gideon Asfaw, said - in an interview with his country's official news agency - that the construction process of the dam has reached more than 80%, and it is expected that the second filling of the dam will be completed in the current rainy season.
Asfaw considered that the second phase of filling the dam represents a historic event for Ethiopia to generate energy and alleviate energy poverty in the country.
The Ethiopian official did not provide details on how much water the dam's reservoir will hold during the second filling.
Egypt and Sudan exchange accusations with Ethiopia of being responsible for the failure of negotiations on the dam, sponsored by the African Union for months, within a negotiating process that began about 10 years ago.
Addis Ababa insists on implementing a second filling of the Renaissance Dam with water in the current and next months, even if it does not reach an agreement on filling and operating the dam it is building on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile.
While Egypt and Sudan adhere to reaching a binding tripartite agreement first, to preserve the integrity of their water facilities and ensure the continued flow of their annual share of Nile water, which is 55.5 billion cubic meters and 18.5 billion, respectively.
On the 8th of this month, the UN Security Council concluded that it is necessary to re-negotiate the Renaissance Dam intensively, under the auspices of the African Union, in order to sign a binding legal agreement that meets the needs of the three countries.