Ethiopia resumes filling Nile dam reservoir, angering Egypt
CAIRO: Ethiopia has started the second phase of filling a megadam’s reservoir on the upper Blue Nile, Egypt and Sudan said, raising tensions on Tuesday ahead of an upcoming UN Security Council meeting on the issue.
Both Cairo and Khartoum said they had been notified by Addis Ababa that the second phase of filling had begun at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Egypt’s irrigation ministry late on Monday expressed its “firm rejection of this unilateral measure” and Sudan’s foreign ministry on Tuesday followed suit, labelling the move a “risk and imminent threat”.
In Addis Ababa, the offices of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Irrigation Minister Seleshi Bekele did not immediately respond to AFP’S requests for comment.
The huge dam, set to be Africa’s largest hydroelectric project when completed, has sparked an almost decade-long diplomatic standoff between Addis Ababa and downstream nations Egypt and Sudan.
Ethiopia says the project is essential to its development, but Cairo and Khartoum fear it could restrict their citizens’ water access.
Both governments have been pushing Addis Ababa to ink a binding deal over the filling and operation of the dam, and have been urging the UN Security Council to take the matter up in recent weeks.
Thursday’s UNSC meeting was requested by Tunisia on behalf of Egypt and Sudan, a diplomatic source said.
But France’s ambassador to the UN said last week that the council itself can do little apart from bringing all the sides together.
“We can open the door, invite the three countries at the table, bring them to express their concerns, encourage them to get back to the negotiations and find a solution,” he told reporters.
‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT’
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a note to the UN that negotiations are at an impasse, and accused Ethiopia of adopting “a policy of intransigence that undermined our collective endeavours to reach an agreement”.
Relations between Cairo and Addis Ababa have been icy over the past decade. Tensions have also risen between Ethiopia and Sudan as the Tigray conflict has sent refugees fleeing across the border into Sudan.
Shoukry and his Sudanese counterpart Mariam al Mahdi met in New York ahead of the Security Council talks and reiterated their “firm rejection” of Ethiopia’s move, Cairo said.
Addis Ababa had previously announced it would proceed to
the second stage of filling in July, with or without a deal.
Ethiopia argues that adding water to the reservoir, especially during the heavy rainfalls of July and August, is a natural part of the construction process.
“Filling goes in tandem with the construction,” said a senior official at the water ministry. “If the rainfall is as you see it now in
July, it must have begun.”
Egypt’s irrigation ministry expressed its “firm rejection of this unilateral measure” and Sudan’s foreign ministry on Tuesday followed suit, labelling the move a “risk and imminent threat”