Nile dam: Sudan is lukewarm on Ethiopia data sharing offer

Sudan said it welcomed in principle an offer from Addis Ababa to exchange data on the filling of the reservoir of a dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile.

But Khartoum said that it still wanted a legally binding agreement, not a “gift” that can be withdrawn at any time.

Egypt – downstream of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, like Sudan – said it can handle the effects of a second filling of the reservoir which is scheduled for July, but that continued unilateral action by Ethiopia will spell disaster in the long term.

The second filling is expected to involve 13.4 billion cubic metres, or three times the size of the first last year.

That hardly affected Egypt because of a flood that kept its large reservoir behind the Aswan dam near capacity.

However, Ethiopia’s first filling disrupted some of Sudan’s water treatment facilities, leaving thousands of homes without running water for days.

Sudan said that without live data exchanges, the larger filling this year could affect 20 million people and disrupt work on its power-generating dams on the Blue Nile.

On Saturday, Sudan’s Irrigation Ministry said it welcomed a letter from the Ethiopian government inviting it to name a contact for data exchange on the second filling.

Khartoum said that it would rather the exchange of data be part of a legally binding agreement.

“Ethiopia’s offer indicates suspicious selectivity in dealing with what has been agreed on, as well as an unacceptable tendency to only take the steps that suit it without heed to Sudan’s demands or fears,” it said.

The offer, it said, made the exchange of data a “gift from Ethiopia that it can give or withhold whenever it pleases and that’s something that exposes our national interests to grave dangers”.

Egypt’s irrigation minister said his country can deal with the second filling and reduce its effects, but similar Ethiopian actions in the future could create problems.

“If this year’s flood is as good as last year’s then we will not have a big problem … Our main concern is how to manage future droughts,” said the minister, Mohamed Abdel Ati, in a television interview on Saturday.