CAIRO - 26 January 2022: Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli has expressed Egypt's keenness on reaching a legally-binding agreement for filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to achieve the interests of all parties through striking a balance allowing Ethiopia to benefit from the dam either in the field of electricity generation or sustainable development without causing harm to downstream countries (Egypt and Sudan).
In a tweet on his Facebook account Tuesday, Madbouli said Egypt showed interest in resuming negotiations at the nearest chance with the aim of finding solutions to points of technical and legal differences and finding a fair and balanced agreement taking into consideration Egypt's water scarcity and its dependence on the Nile as the main water resource.
He said that Egypt always gives priority to achieving development in Nile basin countries, so it offered assistance to sisterly countries to provide stability for their peoples.
Egypt and Sudan have continued to demand that a legally-binding agreement is reached on GERD to guarantee their water interests and the right of their peoples to the Nile water and prevent any harm to Sudanese dams.
Despite warnings from Egypt and Sudan about any unilateral steps regarding GERD before said agreement is reached, Ethiopia implemented the second phase of filling the dam in July without the two countries’ consent.
Ethiopia conducted its first filling in July 2020 with 5 billion cubic meters. The total capacity of the reservoir is 74 billion cubic meters to be filled over several years [the years number is still one of the disagreements between the three countries].
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are at loggerheads over the $4-billion dam; Cairo voiced concern over its water share [55.5 billion cubic meters] after Ethiopia started building the dam on the Blue Nile in May 2011.
In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles, per which the downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan] should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam.
In March 2021, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stated, “No one can take a drop of water from Egypt... If it happens, there will be inconceivable instability in the region that no one could imagine. This is not a threat.”
Sudan, as well has warned more than once of filling the GERD before reaching a legal binding agreement.
Ethiopia, on the other side affirms that the second filling will be conducted, despite all negotiations and mediations.
Wed, Jan. 26, 2022
