CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) A new round of talks on reaching an agreement on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has ended unsuccessfully, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.
Last month, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan returned to the table of the negotiations suspended in February. Since early July, the three sides resumed talks with the mediation of South Africa as the current holder of the African Union chairmanship.
"We participated in many negotiations in good conscience to reach a fair agreement that would equally protect the interests of the three countries. We were sympathetic to issues related to the Renaissance dam, but this round ended without reaching an agreement. This is regrettable. All positions remained the same," Shoukry said on air the Egyptian ON broadcaster.
According to the top Egyptian diplomat, the results of the negotiations will be presented to the office of the African Union's chairman.
Late in June, Ethiopia agreed to avoid filling the dam until a final agreement between the three countries is penned.
The dam, officially known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, is under construction by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile and set to become Africa's largest, but Egypt and Sudan fear its effects on their own water security. The three countries have held dozens of rounds of talks but have failed to agree on how soon the dam should be filled.
Cairo has proposed to extend the filling for 10 years, while Ethiopia is determined to do it in three years. In this case, Egypt and Sudan say they will fall short of 25 billion cubic meters of water annually with subsequent drought and crop failure.
Egypt has officially asked the UN Security Council to intervene in talks and prevent Addis Ababa from acting unilaterally amid stalled progress in the trilateral dialogue.
