The new measures Addis Ababa wants to take to fill the dam have not pleased its two neighbours, who have broken off the round of negotiations

The talks on the Renaissance Dam between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been suspended

photo_camera AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS - Overview of the construction site of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) near Guba in Ethiopia

The construction of the Great Dam of the Ethiopian Renaissance has been, since the official start in 2011, a controversial issue, as the impact on the flow of the Nile is great and both Egypt and Sudan, both with interests in the construction, depend heavily on the river. Egypt, for example, depends on the Nile for almost 96% of its water consumption.

This break in the talks on the construction of the dam is due to the publication of a letter submitted by the Ethiopian Minister of Water that spoke of the need to carry out "internal consultations on the proposal" and in which the guidelines and rules for filling the dam were set out.

This Tuesday, the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation issued a statement that related what had been discussed at the mini-summit on July 21, this being the third meeting of the second round between the three countries involved and in which a binding agreement had been reached on filling the dam. A new round of meetings was to have taken place this Monday and Tuesday to discuss the points of contention, but just before the start of the meetings, the Ethiopian water minister sent a letter to his counterparts in Egypt and Sudan, which included a draft of guidelines and rules for filling the dam without including any legal clause or "legal mechanism".

In response to this message, Egypt pointed out that the Ethiopian speech was contrary to what was originally agreed. As a result, Egypt and Sudan requested a suspension of meetings for internal consultations on the Ethiopian proposal, which contravenes what was agreed during the 21 July summit. For its part, the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation has said that Ethiopia's position raises new concerns about the course of the dam negotiations.

Largest electricity source on the continent 

This mega-construction is located just 20 kilometers from the border between Sudan and Ethiopia and was designed to store up to 74 billion cubic meters of water and to create a hydroelectric plant that will produce up to 6,000 MW. Begun in 2011, this project has become a matter of national sovereignty. Ethiopia, which has invested the most in this dam, sought to overcome the country's lack of energy sources and thus connect the entire population to the electricity grid. This will be the largest energy source on the continent and will serve for the modernization of the Ethiopian economy, mainly agricultural, towards a more industrialized one.

Although the project was launched unilaterally by Addis Ababa, it sought support at the regional level from its two neighbours: Sudan and Egypt. But gaining power by controlling the waters of the African river has meant a more than possible regional conflict between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

In mid-July, Ethiopia began the process of filling the dam, as promised by the Executive of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed Ali. But regional tensions between the three countries involved have made the conflict increasingly protracted. The last round of negotiations has been going on for almost nine years, and with the cancellation of the talks they seem to be at an impasse.

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