In Cairo, a new round of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) began yesterday at the ministerial level, with the participation of the Water Resources and Irrigation ministries from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Expectations for achieving positive results in these negotiations are low, given the previous rounds of negotiations’ difficulties.
Observers believe that the failure of the previous two rounds in Cairo and Addis Ababa in August and September to reach any agreement contributed to complicating the negotiation process, especially after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s announcement on 10 September that his country had completed the fourth filling of the dam’s reservoir.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the filling at the time, as it was seen as “disregarding the interests and rights of the downstream states (Egypt and Sudan) and their water security, which is guaranteed by the rules of international law.”
Since Ethiopia began the construction of the dam in 2011, the official Egyptian discourse has consistently emphasized that the project, which costs over $4 billion, represents an “existential threat” to life in Egypt.
Despite this, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed an agreement with Ethiopia and Sudan in March 2015, which was Egypt’s first recognition of Ethiopia’s right to build the dam.
However, the signing did not secure Egypt’s concerns about the dam filling process, which completed its fourth filling. This has prompted Egyptian experts to call for decisive action to address this threat.