Egypt and Sudan exit talks with Ethiopia

▶ Vast hydroelectric Gerd project has been the subject of fruitless negotiations for a decade

Egypt and Sudan pulled out of talks with Ethiopia over a disputed Nile dam being built by Addis Ababa.

Cairo said it and Khartoum were protesting against the Horn of Africa nation’s breach of agreements reached by the three nations’ leaders and irrigation ministers.

The decision by Egypt and Sudan to suspend their participation in the talks was announced by Cairo late on Tuesday, the latest twist in a decade of fruitless and protracted negotiations between the three nations on the hydroelectric project.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or Gerd, is almost complete and was expected to generate 6,000 megawatts.

Downstream Egypt and Sudan have been striving to persuade upstream Ethiopia to commit to a legally binding deal on the operation and filling of the dam, as well as a mechanism for resolving future disputes and to ensure a sufficient flow of water during sustained periods of drought.

Egypt, a mainly desert nation that depends on the Nile for almost all of its water, fears the dam would reduce its vital share of the river, disrupting agriculture and costing it hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Energy-starved Sudan stands to gain from buying cheap electricity when the Gerd is fully functional, but it fears that any damage to the structure, built about 30 kilometres from its border, could cause devastating floods in the east of the country.

Ethiopia maintains that the Gerd would alleviate the abject poverty of 60 per cent of its 110 million people, spur the nation’s development and enable it to export electricity to its neighbours.

Observers from the US, the EU and the African Union attended the latest talks, which had run for three days when Cairo and Khartoum quit.

Egypt’s government said both countries had decided to withdraw from the discussions to carry out internal consultations after Ethiopia’s water minister presented a draft to his Sudanese and Egyptian counterparts outlining guidelines for filling the dam.

The document, it said, did not include regulations on the operation, was not legally binding and did not include a process for settling disputes in the future.

The draft breached an agreement reached during a meeting on Monday between water ministers from the three nations on the need to focus on resolving differences before another ministerial meeting scheduled to take place today.

“As a result, Egypt and Sudan have requested the suspension of the talks to carry out internal consultations on the Ethiopian draft,” the Egyptian government said.

It explained that the surprise proposals breached what had been agreed during a mini African summit held on July 21 and at the ministerial meeting on Monday. Last month, Ethiopia completed the first phase of filling the reservoir behind the dam, despite opposition from Cairo and Khartoum, which wanted an agreement first on how the dam would be operated.

They later agreed to narrow the scope of the negotiations to that of reaching an agreement on the operation and filling of the dam, and leave a more comprehensive deal on sharing the river’s water for future negotiations.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi last week likened the negotiations over the Gerd to a lengthy battle and delivered stern, albeit implicit, warnings to Ethiopia.

“No one dares eat the lion’s food. Be lions. Being a lion is not just empty talk,” he said, addressing Egyptians. “Our right is not just to water but to life.”

International observers attended the latest talks, which had been running for three days when Cairo and Khartoum quit