President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Egypt on Wednesday, 11 September, to debate the Nile water challenge, together with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), negotiations with Ethiopia, and efforts to safe a binding authorized settlement on the dam’s operation and filling.
Throughout a joint press convention along with his German counterpart at Al-Ittihadiya Palace, President Al-Sisi highlighted the Nile water challenge as a prime precedence, mentioning GERD and the continued negotiations with Ethiopia to safe a binding authorized settlement on the dam’s filling and operation.
He famous that Egypt has been working for over a decade to succeed in an settlement primarily based on worldwide requirements for transboundary rivers, emphasizing that Egypt depends solely on the Nile River, which has offered uninterrupted water for hundreds of years.
The statements observe Ethiopia’s demand that Egypt “should abandon its aggressive method” concerning the contentious hydroelectric dam on the Nile River, amid rising tensions between the 2 nations.
This response got here after Egypt despatched a letter to the UN Safety Council, expressing Egypt’s agency rejection of Ethiopia’s unilateral insurance policies, which violate worldwide regulation.
Historical past of the dispute
In 2010, Ethiopia introduced plans to assemble a multi-billion-dollar dam on the Blue Nile River, often known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Subsequently, Nile Basin states signed the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Settlement, also called the Entebbe Settlement, however Egypt and Sudan didn’t be part of, arguing that the settlement fails to safeguard their historic water rights.
The Entebbe Settlement was meant to interchange the 1929 and 1959 Nile Water agreements, which allotted 55.5 billion cubic meters of water to Egypt and 18.5 billion to Sudan, and granted them veto energy over upstream tasks.
Though Egypt raised considerations with the United Nations and the African Union in the identical yr, political unrest and upheaval in the course of the Arab Spring in 2011 stalled diplomatic negotiations.
Between 2011 and 2014, a number of committees have been shaped to evaluate the affect of the dam on Egypt. By 2014, Ethiopia reported that 32 p.c of GERD was accomplished.
In 2015, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan signed the Declaration of Rules in Khartoum, which outlined key provisions: the GERD shouldn’t trigger vital hurt to any of the three international locations, it ought to foster financial improvement and cross-border cooperation, and operational agreements should be established earlier than filling the reservoir.
By 2016, Ethiopia introduced that 60 p.c of the dam’s building was accomplished. In 2017, negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia failed to provide an settlement.
In 2018, a nine-party assembly involving the irrigation and overseas ministers and intelligence chiefs of the three international locations was held, however it ended with out reaching an settlement.
In 2019, Egypt requested a brand new spherical of negotiations in Cairo to handle the filling of the GERD reservoir and its operational guidelines after months of stalled discussions. These negotiations broke down when Ethiopia rejected Egypt’s proposal on dam filling, citing considerations over sovereignty.
In 2020, Ethiopia introduced plans to unilaterally start filling the dam in July, with or with out an settlement. Egypt sought intervention from the UN Safety Council, labeling the scenario as “an imminent menace to worldwide peace and safety.”
Following mediation by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, chair of the African Union (AU), the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan agreed to renew talks. Egypt insisted on clear insurance policies for reservoir filling throughout extended droughts.
Nonetheless, mediation efforts didn’t yield an settlement, and in 2021, Ethiopia commenced a second filling of the dam with out a consensus with Egypt and Sudan.
In July of this yr, Ethiopia introduced plans to proceed with the fifth filling of the GERD reservoir, regardless of ongoing negotiations with downstream international locations which have but to resolve operational protocols.
