Egypt’s foreign Minister
said Cairo had resumed talks with Sudan and Ethiopia over a $4 billion dam
Addis Ababa is building on the Nile which had been suspended for over a year.
The three
countries’ irrigation ministers met in Cairo on Sunday to resume negotiations
over filling and operating the dam, which Egypt sees as a threat to its water
supplies.
Egypt fears
the dam will restrict Nile River flows, the economic lifeblood of all three
countries, from Ethiopia’s highlands, through the deserts of Sudan, to Egyptian
fields and reservoirs.
Sunday’s
meeting came “after a halt of about a year and three months, a period exceeding
what was planned”, state news agency MENA cited Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry
as saying.
Ethiopia
disputes the mega dam will harm Egypt, and in November, MENA quoted Ethiopian
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as saying he wanted to preserve Egypt’s Nile River
rights.
Shoukry said
he hoped the negotiations, due to continue on Monday, would lead to agreement
on a firm timeline for talks that will eventually lead to a binding agreement
on the dam’s filling and operation.
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