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Sudan rejects Ethiopia’s latest GERD proposals
SUDAN
SUDAN has rejected Ethiopia’s latest proposals to break the current impasse over the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Sudan has refused to sign Addis Ababa’s latest proposal to make an initial agreement that would allow the filling of the controversial GERD pro- ject. Instead, Sudan has called on Ethiopia to resume the stalled US-brokered negotiations on the issue.
In March, Ethiopia pulled out of US-sup- ported talks with Egypt and Sudan over the $5bn GERD project, claiming at the time that its negotiating team must hold more talks with the government and other stakeholders.
On May 12, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said he refused to sign a “partial agree- ment” for the dam’s filling, blaming the the absence of co-ordinated planning and outstand- ing “technical and legal issues” dealing with the dam’s “environmental and social impacts”.
The decision came after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had urged Hamdok to sign the agreement.
The dam puts Sudan and Egypt at loggerheads with their southern neighbour Ethiopia over the GERD project on the River Nile. They fear that the project will damage their water supplies.
Sudan’s Hamdok’s position is that Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia must reach an agreement on the project before work continues, Sudan’s state- run news agency reported.
Sudan and Egypt have expressed grave con- cerns about GERD ever since Ethiopia broke ground on the project in 2011.
Ethiopia has raised the prospect of mili- tary action, while US intervention has failed to
produce any agreement between the two sides. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on February 21 that the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renais-
sance Dam could take “months” to resolve.
The US Treasury Department and the World Bank stepped in as observers last year to facili- tate talks among the three countries after negoti-
ations repeatedly failed.
The impasse follows some progress in Jan-
uary, when both sides agreed that the GERD should be filled in stages during the rainy season. Ethiopia’s $5bn dam on the River Nile near the border is key to the country’s economic development and its ability to provide universal
access to power.
Egypt is worried that the 6,000MW dam will
restrict its access to Nile waters.
Egypt receives 55.5nn cubic metres per of
water from the river, and Cairo holds that fill- ing the dam upstream in Ethiopia would reduce flows downstream to Egypt.
Egyptian is trying to raise support from the international community for its concerns. Egyp- tian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry recently sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council, raising concerns about Ethiopia’s uni- lateral moves.
Once completed, GERD is projected to gen- erate nearly 6,000 MW of electricity. Ethiopia says the project will have a significant role in economic integrations among the Horn and East African countries.
GERD, the largest hydropower project in Africa, has reached 70% completion and is expected to be fully functional in 2023.™
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