Ethiopia, Sudan &Egypt Can’t Afford to Remain at Loggerheads over GERD

Addis Ababa April 14/2021 (ENA) Ethiopia, Sudan &Egypt Can’t Afford to Remain at Loggerheads over GERD

The Sudan and Egypt lack no knowledge of the scientific and non negotiable facts pertaining to the technical standards upon which GERD is being constructed. Ethiopia strictly adheres to legal and technical standards in the construction of GERD not only because it is obliged to abide to normative international laws and principles on utilization of Trans-boundary Rivers but is also a guarantee for insuring optimum utilization of hydroelectric power from the dam.

This implies that both Egypt and Sudan need to look at the big picture surrounding the dam. Ethiopia shall never refrain from believing and acting on the utilization of the Blue Nile in the most equitable and rational manner. The Ethiopian government and its negotiating team have repeatedly stressed that filling GERD is not a new undertaking outside the realms of the technical construction of the dam. There would not have been any point in starting the construction of a dam which would remain empty.

In his recent interview with Al Jazeera English, Sudan's Water Resources Minister Yasser Abas said Sudan’s position on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has never changed from the beginning. This was not really so as Sudan was repeatedly swinging between remaining in the negotiations and at time boycotting it. “Sudan’s position has never changed from the beginning we support the dam,” the minister said. Indeed Ethiopia accepts such an official recognition of the country’s right to build hydropower dams for hydropower generation.

“And the second thing is that we are seeing some benefits from this dam. Of course, it has also negative impacts but also it has positive impacts,” the minister added.

 “Now, the issue is that all these positive impacts can change automatically to very high risk if there is no agreement. So, our point is the same, we are supporting Ethiopia, but on the condition to reach agreement on filling and operation,” Yasir pointed out.

As Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy has repeatedly confirmed, Ethiopia has no problem in reaching on a negotiated agreement and does not accept one sided and binding agreement that does not correspond with the reality on the ground and is not interested in politicizing and over politicizing on Ethiopia’s efforts to provide electric power to its citizens.

Again, Ethiopia has time and again noted that it would accept the role of the Quartet mediation as long as they remain on observer status while, AU as a leading regional African organization will remain the custodian of amicable negotiations among the three countries.

Ethiopia firmly believes in the capability of Africans to solve their problems by themselves through the AU led negotiation and the second filling of GERD will go ahead as scheduled during the country's rainy season.

 On yet another development former Sudan Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Osman Atum said second phase filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) poses no impact on the water resource of Sudan,

Atum, who has worked for 49 years on issues related to dam, told Sky News Arabia that the presumed threats of GERD on Egypt and Sudan are mostly erroneous.

He added that even third phase filling of the dam has no harm or negative impact on the lower riparian countries. The dam’s benefit to the down-stream countries incomparably exceeds compared to the expected harm, the former minister said.

Had the individuals from Sudan and Egypt talking about the dam on media outlets been experts, they could have provided accurate information, he says. There was above average water flow and flood over the last five years, Atum stated, adding that about 24 billion cubic meter water had been accumulated in the Aswan High Dam last year alone.

Moreover, he alleged that Ethiopia’s plan to fill the dam with 13.5 and 10.5 billion cubic meter water in the 2^nd and 3^rd phase respectively will not impact Sudan’s water share. Egypt has repeatedly stated that it will not accept Ethiopia’s filling of the dam without a binding agreement in anticipation that it will reduce its share of the water supply.

But, the former minister pointed out that the dam through a sustained annual flow of 48 billion cubic meters will have paramount importance whenever there is drought in Sudan and Egypt. The dam will able to generate 48 billion cubic meters of water flowing to the downstream countries of Sudan and Egypt, he added.

The Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt held talks on GERD in Kinshasa, but they failed to reach an agreement and negotiations were concluded without an agreement between the three countries.

Ethiopia wants the negotiations to continue under the auspices of Africa as every African problem has African solutions, while Egypt and Sudan are calling for the quartet of negotiations to include other parties.

Indeed contrary to the assertions of Sudan’s water Resources Minister, vacillations on the most important points of the negotiations, combining a wave of misinformation with saber rattling as well as interference into the internal affairs of Ethiopia blended with propaganda war on the country on the part of Egypt and Sudan has done a greater disservice to the continuation of negotiations under the leadership of the AU.

Some basic issues need to be clear here. The current threat being fanned by Egypt would only help to tarnish the thousands of friendly relations between the three countries and indeed pointless and counterproductive. The second point is that Ethiopia will definitely engage in the second filling of GERD consequently generating a substantial amount of electric power in the first phase. Ethiopia calls for constructive negotiations under the auspices of the AU to resolve African problems in African way in line with the lofty goals of Pan-Africansim.