Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ethiopia on Wednesday expressed its determination to continue filling its Nile dam, despite threats from other riparian countries, Egypt and Sudan, which do not rule out any option to defend their interests.
The remarks come a day after negotiations between foreign ministers in the three Kinshasa countries, sponsored by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, the pro tempore president of the African Union, failed.
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Ethiopia began construction of the Great Renaissance Dam (GERD) in 2011. Before its filling began, Egypt and Sudan wanted a tripartite agreement on its operation, but Addias Ababa believed there was no reason to wait.
Faced with the current diplomatic stalemate, the filling, the first phase of which ended in 2020, will continue in the next rainy season, starting in June or July, Ethiopian Water Minister Seleshi Bekele announced on Wednesday.
“The completion will take place,” he told a news conference. “We will not give up on him in any way,” he added.
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From Khartoum, Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas warned Addis Ababa that they would consider “all options” if “Ethiopia begins the second filling without an agreement”.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi reiterated his warnings. “I say to my Ethiopian brothers, ‘Do not touch a drop of Egyptian water, for all options are on the table.’
At the end of March, Al Sisi had already evoked “unimaginable instability” if the dam threatened “a single drop of water” in Egypt.
Imminent danger
The work has been a source of tension between the three countries since the first stone was laid in April 2011.
This mega reservoir of 74,000 million cubic meters of water is located in northwestern Ethiopia, near the border with Sudan, on the Blue Nile that joins the White Nile in Khartoum to form the Nile.
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With an installed capacity of almost 6,500 megawatts, it could become the most powerful hydroelectric plant in Africa.
Ethiopia says the energy it will produce is vital to meeting the needs of its 110 million people.
But Egypt, which is 97% Nile for irrigation and drinking water, sees the Ethiopian reservoir as a threat to water supply.
For its part, Sudan fears damage to its reservoirs if Ethiopia continues to fully fill the GERD before reaching an agreement.
The last attempt failed on Tuesday, after three days of negotiations.
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Ethiopia “directly threatens people in the Nile Basin and Sudan,” warned Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al Sadiq al Mahdi, warning of an “imminent danger” to the region and the continent.
The Ethiopian Minister for Irrigation regretted that Egypt and Sudan have called for greater involvement of South African, American and European Union (EU) observers.
Ethiopia wants to privilege the process sponsored by the presidency of the African Union, whose headquarters are in its capital, Addis Ababa.
According to Ethiopian diplomacy, negotiations will resume by the end of the month.