CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2020) Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew on Tuesday accused Egypt of hampering the negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) during a press conference mainly focused on trilateral talks on the issue held by Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.
The statement came after spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Ahmed Hafez said on Monday that Cairo might appeal to the UN Security Council to resolve the conflict after negotiations with Ethiopia and Sudan failed to bring settlement.
"While we invite them for negotiation open minded and discussing issues based on principles, Egyptians are thinking in a different way and to disrupt the negotiation," Andargachew said, as quoted by Ethiopian news Agency, adding that Cairo seeks to "defame and weaken Ethiopia."
The trilateral talks on the dam resumed last week in an online format after a three-month pause. On Saturday, a representative of the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said that the Ethiopia-sponsored draft agreement denied water rights to downstream-located Sudan and Egypt and gave Ethiopia exclusive right to the river's water resources.
Since 2011, Ethiopia has been building what may become Africa's largest hydroelectric power plant. Sudan and Egypt fear that when the GERD is launched, it will inevitably lead to water shortages downstream, something that Ethiopia has consistently denied.
The three Nile basin states have held over a dozen rounds of talks since the start of the construction, but disagreements persist.
As of now, the construction of the dam is reportedly completed by more than 71 percent and is planned to be fully terminated in 2023.
