Russia offers technical help to break dam deadlock
Moscow is prepared to offer technical assistance to help break the deadlock in negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over a hydroelectric dam being built on the Nile by Addis Ababa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday.
Speaking after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Mr Lavrov said Russia was prepared to help the three nations resolve outstanding technical issues but it would not mediate.
Only through dialogue, he said, could the dispute be settled, with the role of third parties restricted to the creation of conditions to help the talks move forward.
“We will not play other roles and we were not invited to mediate,” said Mr Lavrov, who argued that the African Union was the most suitable party to mediate in the talks, which began 10 years ago.
“An African resolution reached through African efforts,” he said.
Speaking after his Russian guest, Mr Shukry disagreed, saying AU mediation was faltering because of what he called Ethiopia’s intransigence.
Russia, he said, had the ability and international standing to play an active role in the dispute and prevent Ethiopia from taking unilateral action. Mr El Sisi earlier told Mr Lavrov that failure to resolve the dispute over the dam, which is nearly 80 per cent complete, would “negatively impact on the security and stability of the entire region,” according to a presidential statement.
Mr El Sisi said recently that all “options” were on the table if Egypt’s share of the Nile’s water was cut as a result of the 6,000 megawatt Ethiopian dam going into operation.