Ethiopia announces a "great understanding" on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced Tuesday that his country, Egypt and Sudan have reached a "great understanding" on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being built by Addis Abeba on the Blue Nile River.

Abiy Ahmed outlined this important rapprochement that could facilitate the transit towards a final agreement between these three Nile riparian countries on the construction of the infrastructure. The great rapprochement of positions has taken place after a small virtual summit of the African Union (AU), according to the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in an official statement. 

The meeting was convened by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country holds the AU's rotating chairmanship, and was attended by Abiy Ahmed himself; Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi; and Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, among others.

In his Twitter social network account, the Ethiopian Prime Minister described the meeting as "fruitful" and expressed his appreciation to his "brothers" Al-Sisi and Hamdok for "the common understanding reached to continue the technical discussions on the filling" of the GERD.

Also on Twitter, AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat considered it "absolutely necessary" that "an agreement be reached that preserves the interest of all parties" because "the Nile is the source of life and development of the three countries and should remain a source of peace.

For his part, Cyril Ramaphosa affirmed through the same channel that the "trilateral negotiations are still on track" and thanked the riparian countries for their "commitment to find African solutions to African problems".

"Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan have agreed to increase their technical discussions on the filling (of the dam) to continue the AU-led process and proceed to a comprehensive agreement," the official Ethiopian note offered, which also highlighted that the recent rains in the region "have made it appropriate to fill the dam," one of the main points of dispute between Ethiopia and the other two nations, which fear a drastic reduction in their access to water from the Nile flow. The Ethiopian government has already completed the first year of filling the large dam it has been building for nine years.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister said that "in the negotiations on the first filling and annual operation of the dam, Ethiopia is committed to a balanced and mutually beneficial negotiation". "It has become evident during the last two weeks in the rainy season that the first year of filling the dam has been achieved and that the dam under construction is now overdue," the Ethiopian Prime Minister said.

For its part, the Egyptian Presidency also noted that an agreement has been reached with Ethiopia and Sudan to establish a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam, as reported in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.

This positive approach of positions was also confirmed by the Minister of Irrigation of Sudan, Yaser Abbas, who highlighted that the last AU meeting took place "in a positive atmosphere in which everyone has achieved African solutions to African problems".

The three countries already agreed on June 26th to avoid any "unilateral" action on the dam, including filling its reservoir, until there was a "binding" agreement between the three, following the principle of agreement on January 31st, which was not signed.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed in 2015 that the construction of the dam should not affect the economy, river flow and hydroelectric safety of any of the three states, but since then there have been disagreements between the parties.

Ethiopia is financing the project alone, valued at some 4.5 billion euros, and hopes to become the continent's largest generator and exporter of electricity. Sudan, for its part, is supporting the dam, as it will regulate flows and supply electricity and irrigation.

The works are being carried out in the Benishangul-Gumaz region and, once completed, will make the GERD the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa with 1,800 meters long, 155 meters high and a total volume of 10.4 million cubic meters, as stated by the company Salini Impreglio on its website.

The recent AU conclave took place after Ethiopia made it clear on the 15th that the water in the dam is due to heavy rains and not to an intentional filling operation, as seemed to be suggested by the Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Seleshi Bekele, in a statement on Ethiopian state television.

This nuance came after the Egyptian government asked for "urgent clarification" of reports that the Ethiopian executive had begun filling the dam without agreement with Sudan and Egypt, threatening the stability of the region.

This crossover of statements followed the failure last week of the last round of dialogue between the three countries to reach an agreement on the dam.

The AU launched its mediation efforts about three weeks ago through virtual meetings to reach an agreement on the filling and operations of the GERD in the Blue Nile, a tributary that starts at Ethiopia's Lake Tana and contributes 85% of its water to the Nile.

However, the three riparian countries have failed to reach a pact, and maintain differences over the future development of the Nile River, conflict resolution and the involvement of third parties during potential disputes. 

Disagreements between Ethiopia and Egypt have been presented as the major obstacle to an agreement, as GERD has recently strained the bilateral relationship. In fact, in June, Ethiopia reproached Egypt for asking the United Nations Security Council to intervene in the dispute. The latter country even threatened this March to use "all necessary means" to protect its "interests" in the dispute.

Ethiopia has begun building this large dam to guarantee water resources for the country and also plans to export electricity to generate wealth and boost development. Egypt, for its part, believes the issue is one of "national security," fearing that the project will significantly reduce the flow of water from the Nile, from which it gets about 90% of its fresh water consumption.