CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2021) The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which as the current AU chair oversees the negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia on the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, has not yet made any new proposals on the matter, a Sudanese source close to the talks told Sputnik on Monday.
The previous trilateral negotiations, initiated in November 2020, did not prove fruitful as the sides failed to agree on the further procedure for talks. Talks resumed on Sunday in the DRC capital of Kinshasa under the mediation of the African Union (AU), marking a new two-day round after a months-long break. Last year, the negotiations was conducted under the auspices of South Africa, which headed the AU.
"The negotiations are still facing an impasse ... The DRC did not offer anything new, the meetings were held solely to listen to the stances of all parties," the source said while commenting on the results of the meetings.
They added that Sudan was, as before, in favor of revising the format of discussions toward the attraction of new international mediators, as it considers the current format to be ineffective for solving the existing controversies.
"Sudan insists on the mediation of the quartet, represented by the country chairing the African Union, the UN, the European Union, and the United States as additional mediators," the source specified.
Last month, Sudanese media reported that Khartoum had officially asked the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States to join the AU as mediators in talks to resolve the situation on the dam.
Last week, Ethiopian Ambassador to Russia Alemayehu Tegenu Aargau said in an interview with Sputnik that the second filling of the dam was due to kick off in July when the rainy season begins.
The controversial dam project has been under construction by Ethiopia since 2012 and set to become Africa's largest dam, but Egypt and Sudan fear it might jeopardize their water security if launched too soon.
The African nations have held multiple rounds of negotiations but have so far failed to reach an agreement on how soon the dam should be filled and begin generating power. The talks have been mediated by the African Union. Tensions escalated in summer 2020 after Ethiopia began the first stage of filling the reservoir without prior agreements.
