Abiy Ahmed: Our brothers in Egypt will listen to them, exchange opinions and ideas with them, and we will respond to their concerns (European Archives)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a parliamentary session, yesterday, Tuesday, that filling the reservoir of the Renaissance Dam is no longer a priority for his country, which has retained enough water. He explained that the High Dam in Egypt was not damaged as was previously rumored, as he put it, noting that His government is open to dialogue and negotiation that achieve mutual benefits.
Abiy Ahmed added, "Our brothers in Egypt will listen to them and exchange opinions and ideas with them, and we will respond to their concerns."
He pointed out that although the Blue Nile originates in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa has not politicized this issue. “Rather, we are happy to share our resources with others, and the Nile is still flowing to our neighbors and will not stop.”
On another topic, the Ethiopian Prime Minister said that external parties want to wage a proxy war against his country through Somalia, indicating in his response to questions from representatives in Parliament that his country’s acquisition of a sea port represents an existential issue to ensure the flow of goods and supply chains to it, in light of the rise in Its population needs, as he put it.
It should be noted that in December last year, the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, witnessed the fourth and last meeting between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan regarding the Renaissance Dam, as Cairo subsequently announced in a statement the end of the course of the Renaissance Dam negotiations.
The Egyptian statement at the time continued, "Egypt will closely monitor the process of filling and operating the Renaissance Dam, and that it reserves its right guaranteed under international conventions to defend its water and national security in the event it is exposed to harm."
Cairo, which was most affected by the Renaissance Dam, had high hopes for the success of the negotiation process that was launched in mid-July, within the framework of the three countries’ agreement to speed up the finalization of the agreement on the rules for filling and operating the dam within 4 months.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met on the sidelines of the “Summit of Sudan’s Neighboring Countries” on July 13, 2023, and agreed to set a 4-month deadline to reach an agreement on filling and operating the dam, but it actually resumed at the end of August. Last August.
These last four rounds came after a freeze in negotiations that lasted more than two years, specifically since April 2021, following the failure of an African Union initiative to bring the views of the three countries closer together, and the failure of all mediations.
Ethiopia is about to complete the giant project, whose value is estimated at about $4 billion, and aims to build the largest dam for hydroelectric power production in Africa, but it raises regional tensions, especially with Egypt, which depends on the Nile River to provide about 97% of its irrigation and drinking water needs.
Source: Al Jazeera