Page 7 - AfrElec Week 37 2021

AfrElec HYDRO AfrElec

UN calls on Ethiopia, Egypt,and

Sudan to restart GERD talks

ETHIOPIA THE United Nations Security Council has urged UN Security Council to discuss the dispute and
Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to resume African on Ethiopia to refrain from filling the dam with-
Union-led talks to reach a “binding agreement out first having reached an agreement with the
on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethio- countries affected.
pian Renaissance Dam (GERD) within a reason- In July, Tunisia tabled a five-point draft res-
able time frame.” olution to the Security Council that called for
The Council issued a presidential statement, Ethiopia to end the second filling of the reservoir
the first concerning the GERD, on September 15 at the GERD.
after efforts by Tunisia to break the deadlock in The call followed Ethiopia’s decision to start
talks between the three countries. its summer filling of the GERD at the start of July.
“The Security Council calls upon the three The Egyptian government at the time said it
countries to take forward the AU-led negotia- had received an official note from the Ethiopian
tion process in a constructive and co-operative government that the filling had started, and that
manner,” the statement said. it firmly rejected the unilateral measure.
The dam is reported to have a projected The Egyptian irrigation ministry said the
capacity of 6,000 MW and to cost $4bn. While move was “a violation of international laws and
Ethiopia argues that the dam is vital for its devel- norms that regulate projects built on the shared
opment, down-river countries Egypt and Sudan basins of international rivers.”
have expressed concern that the GERD threatens Both the EU and the US have been in favour
their own water supply. of talks in order to end the stand-off between the
In March 2015, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan three countries, which threatens to destabilise
signed a Declaration of Principles on the GERD regional security.
in which they committed to the equitable and The armed conflict between the Tigray peo-
reasonable use of water resources. ple and Ethiopian government has caused thou-
However, disagreements among the three sands of deaths, and the displacement of 2mn
states have persisted on some aspects of the individuals, including 50,000 who have fled to
functioning of the dam, including the filling Sudan. That is in addition to putting 400,000 at
and operations of the GERD during periods of the risk of famine.
drought and on a dispute resolution mechanism, The UN is concerned that the GERD could
preventing the parties from reaching common add to the regional instability.
ground. This was the first time that the UN has issued
Negotiations on the outstanding issues, such a statement on international water issues.
including under the auspices of the AU, have The decision was opposed by India, which
yielded little progress. claimed that international water issues do
Egypt and Sudan have appealed to the UN to not belong to the domain of the UN Security
mediate, while Ethiopia has opposed this, insist- Council.
ing that the AU should sponsor any future talks. The Indian representative on the Council said
On 15 June, following a meeting requested that the text does not constitute a “precedent for
by Egypt and Sudan, the League of Arab States the Council to intervene or adjudicate in any
(LAS) adopted a resolution which called on the other transboundary water disputes.”™

Week 37 16•September•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7