Al-Monitor: Nile dam talks stall again amid Egyptian-Ethiopian dispute
Egypt has addressed a letter to the UN Security Council over Ethiopia’s plan to begin filling the Renaissance dam without prior notification of both Cairo and Sudan, further complicating talks to resolve the dispute.
CAIRO — Facing Ethiopia’s unilateral decision to begin filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s reservoir before coming to a full agreement with Egypt over a storage and operation mechanism in the dam, Cairo has taken a new diplomatic path, briefing the UN Security Council members May 1. It stated in an all-inclusive letter all of the unsuccessful diplomatic efforts and paths taken regarding the dam in light of Ethiopia’s intransigence and unilateral decision to fill the dam.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s letter to the Security Council president for May, Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, clearly states, “Ethiopia announcing its intention to seize the Blue Nile waters to fill the dam’s reservoir in July 2020 poses a serious threat to the region’s peace and security. Filling the dam’s reservoir, which is being promoted as the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, would jeopardize the water security, food security, and indeed, the very existence of over 100 million Egyptians, who are entirely dependent on the Nile River for their livelihood.”
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WNU Editor: Ethiopia’s unilateral decision to begin filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s reservoir before coming to a full agreement with Egypt is a clear sign to me that Ethiopia has made the decision to go ahead regardless of what its neighbours may think. It is almost as if Ethiopia is daring Sudan and Egypt to do womething about it.
