KHARTOUM, Sudan
Sudan,
Egypt and Ethiopia have agreed to present draft proposals over the management
of Addis Ababa's giant and controversial Nile hydroelectric dam
within two days, Sudan's water ministry has said.
The
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been contentious since Ethiopia broke
ground on the project in 2011
"After lengthy discussions,
the attendees decided to resume negotiations on Tuesday ... to work on unifying
the texts of the agreements submitted by the three countries," the
ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The decision came during the talks
led by the African Union between water and foreign ministers from the three
countries about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Talks organised by South Africa,
the current chair of the African Union, resumed on Sunday after a short
suspension, a day after Egypt and Sudan voiced optimism that a deal could be
reached.
The GERD, situated in western
Ethiopia on the Blue Nile River, has been contentious since Ethiopia broke
ground on the $4bn project in 2011.
Years of talks between Egypt,
Ethiopia and Sudan with a variety of mediators, including United States
President Trump's administration, have failed to produce a solution.
The two downstream nations, Egypt
and Sudan, have repeatedly insisted Ethiopia must not start filling the
reservoir without reaching a deal first.
The dispute reached a tipping point
in July, when Ethiopia announced it had completed the first stage of the
filling of the dam’s 74 billion cubic-metre reservoir, sparking fear and
confusion in Sudan and Egypt.
Egypt and Sudan suspended their
talks with Ethiopia earlier this month after Addis Ababa proposed linking a
deal on the filling and operations of the GERD to a broader agreement about the
Blue Nile's waters.
That tributary begins in Ethiopia
and is the source of as much as 85 percent of the Nile River. It was not clear whether that issue had been
addressed in Sunday's talks.
During a meeting on Saturday in
Khartoum, the prime ministers of Sudan and Egypt said they were optimistic the
talks would be fruitful.
"It is important to reach an agreement
that guarantees the rights and interests of all three nations," the
leaders said in a joint statement, adding that a "mechanism to resolve
(future) disputes" should be part of any deal.
To Ethiopia, the GERD project
offers a critical opportunity to pull millions of citizens out of poverty and
become a significant power exporter.
For Egypt, which depends on the
Nile River to supply its farmers and booming population of 100 million with
fresh water, the dam poses an existential threat.
Sudan, geographically located
between the two regional powerhouses, says the project could endanger its own
dams. - Agencies
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