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Egypt does not see quick end to

GERD dispute with Ethiopia

ETHIOPIA EGYPT does not foresee solving its hydro dis- the negotiations.”
pute with Ethiopia within five years, a key mem- Furthermore, he noted that any project that
ber of Egypt’s negotiating team admitted this takes place within the Nile Basin or the White
week. Nile Basin in Ethiopia will affect only Egypt and
Alaa Al-Zawahiri, a member of Egypt’s Sudan.
negotiating committee for the Grand Ethiopian Disagreements among the three states have
Renaissance Dam (GERD), said that the dispute persisted on some aspects of the functioning of
on the dam would not be resolved within a year the dam, including the filling and operations of
or even five, as this type of issue requires much the GERD during periods of drought and on a
time and effort, Daily News Egypt. Reported. dispute resolution mechanism, preventing the
His was speaking at a seminar entitled The parties from reaching common ground.
Eastern Nile and the Renaissance Dam, which Negotiations on the outstanding issues,
was held last week. including under the auspices of the AU, have
He explained that the difference between yielded little progress.
Egypt and Ethiopia was that Cairo is one of the Egypt and Sudan have appealed to the UN to
largest countries in the world in managing water mediate, while Ethiopia has opposed this, insist-
resources despite how scarce water is. Ethiopia is ing that the AU should sponsor any future talks.
saturated with resources, but is not good with its In September, the United Nations Security
financial resources. Council (UNSC) urged Ethiopia, Egypt and
His comments came in the week after Ethio- Sudan to resume African Union-led talks to
pia said it expected to begin test generation from reach a “binding agreement on the filling and
the first two 350-MW units at the Great Ethio- operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance
pian Renaissance Dam (GERD) within days. Dam (GERD) within a reasonable time frame.”
In November, Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s for- Both the EU and the US have been in favour
mer water and irrigation minister and currently of talks in order to end the stand-off between the
chief negotiator and advisor on Trans Boundary three countries, which threatens to destabilise
Rivers and GERD, said that construction was regional security.
now 82% complete. He also said at the time that The armed conflict between the Tigray peo-
GERD was expected to start the first phase of ple and Ethiopian government has caused thou-
power production in a few weeks time. sands of deaths, and the displacement of 2mn
The $5bn has been fully funded by Ethiopian individuals, including 50,000 who have fled to
capital and will be the largest project in Africa at Sudan. That is in addition to putting 400,000 at
6,500 MW. the risk of famine.
Al-Zawahiri said that the negotiating com- The UN is concerned that the GERD could
mittee has conducted more than 300 meetings add to the regional instability.
with more than 50 countries. This was the first time that the UN has issued
He pointed out that the negotiating team did such a statement on international water issues.
not discuss Egypt’s water share only but the dis- The decision was opposed by India, which
pute surrounding the GERD as a whole, which is claimed that international water issues do
an issue separate from Egypt’s water share. not belong to the domain of the UN Security
He also said that “Ethiopia is seeking to mobi- Council.
lise all the Nile Basin’s countries to get involved The Indian representative on the Council said
in the dispute, even though no water flows that the text does not constitute a “precedent for
southwards from Ethiopia or vice versa, and this the Council to intervene or adjudicate in any
was one of the points under discussion during other transboundary water disputes.”™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 02 13•January•2022