Khartoum, Jan. 10 (SUNA) – The six-member meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia has failed to reach an acceptable formula for continuation of the negotiations on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ms. Naledi Pandor has expressed regret over the deadlock the negotiations reached, adding that she would refer the matter to President Ramaphosa, the Chairperson of the Current Session of the African Union (AU) to take the necessary measures.
Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Prof. Yasir Abbas said in a statement to SUNA that Sudan requested during the meeting changing the methodology and ways of the negotiations and expanding the role of the experts in a way that enable them to play a basic role in facilitating the negotiations and narrowing differences, especially after the constructive bilateral meetings with the experts yesterday on the need to set a clear terms of reference for the role of the experts.
The Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources added they could not continue in this circular discussions indefinitely, given the direct threat that the Renaissance Dam poses on Roseires Dam, whose storage capacity is less than 10% of the capacity of the Renaissance Dam, if it is filled and operated without an agreement and a daily exchange of data.
He went on to say that Sudan has presented a strongly-worded protest to Ethiopia and the AU, the sponsor of the negotiations, on the letter that had been sent by the Ethiopian minister of water resources to the AU, Sudan and Egypt on the 8th of current January, in which he announced Ethiopia’s intention to continue in the filling for the second year in next July with an amount of 13.5 billion cubic meters regardless of whether or not an agreement was reached, and that his country is not obligated to notify the downstream countries in advance of filling and operating procedures and exchange data about them, a matter that constitutes a serious threat to the Sudanese water installations and half of the population of Sudan.