Ethiopia stated Saturday 23 September 2023 it had begun a second spherical of talks with Egypt and Sudan over a controversial mega-dam constructed by Addis Ababa on the Nile, lengthy a supply of tensions among the many three nations.
Ethiopia this month introduced the completion of the fourth and last filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, prompting speedy condemnation from Cairo, which denounced the transfer as unlawful.
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What’s the Egypt and Sudan worry?
Egypt and Sudan worry the large $4.2-billion dam will severely cut back the share of Nile water they obtain and have repeatedly requested Addis Ababa to cease filling it till an settlement is reached.
For years at loggerheads over the problem, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed in July to finalise a deal inside 4 months, resuming talks in August.
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Ethiopia’s overseas ministry wrote on X, previously referred to as Twitter that the three nations had opened a second spherical of negotiations in Addis Ababa. “Ethiopia is dedicated to reaching a negotiated and amicable answer by way of the continuing trilateral course of,” it stated.
Protracted negotiations over the dam since 2011 have up to now did not result in an settlement between Ethiopia and its downstream neighbours. Egypt has lengthy considered the dam as an existential menace, because it depends on the Nile for 97 per cent of its water wants.
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What did Cairo demand over Nile?
Egyptian International Minister Sameh Shoukry, in an deal with to the UN Basic Meeting, stated that Cairo wished a “binding settlement” on the filling and operation of the dam.
“We stay in anticipation of our goodwill being reciprocated with a dedication from Ethiopia to reach at an settlement that can safeguard the pursuits of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia,” Shoukry stated.
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“It could be a mistake to imagine we are able to settle for a fait accompli in the case of the very lives of greater than 100 million Egyptian residents.”
Did Ethiopia generate electrical energy?
The dam is central to Ethiopia’s improvement plans, and in February 2022, Addis Ababa introduced that it had begun producing electrical energy for the primary time. At full capability, the massive hydroelectric dam — 1.8 kilometres lengthy and 145 metres excessive — might generate greater than 5,000 megawatts.
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That will double Ethiopia’s manufacturing of electrical energy, to which solely half the nation’s inhabitants of 120 million at present has entry. The place of Sudan, which is at present mired in a civil conflict, has fluctuated in recent times.
The United Nations says Egypt might “run out of water by 2025”, and elements of Sudan, the place the Darfur battle was basically a conflict over entry to water, are more and more weak to drought because of local weather change.
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© Agence France-Presse
