The foreign ministers of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia failed to reach an agreement to the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), ministers announced on Friday.
Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs Sameh Shoukry announced in a press conference that the talks that were held in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum didn’t yield any significant results that could be announced, according to Ahram Online. He added that the talks had discussed a comprehensive roadmap to reach a solution to the current status quo; however, they couldn’t reach any solutions.
Shoukry concluded by saying that there will be another round of talks on 5 May. Solutions will be offered during the one-month period in compliance with the instructions of the political leaders of the three countries.
Sudan’s foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour announced that 15 hours of talks came to no avail and all the parties failed to reach answers.
Despite multiple confirmations from Egyptian officials, including the president, that GERD will not affect Egypt’s water quota, it is widely believed that it will have negative repercussions on Egypt’s share. Ethiopia, on the other hand, announced as well that the dam is a matter of life and death and it firmly believes that the dam is vital to its development.
GERD has recently caused controversy after a tripartite ministerial meeting had failed to reach an agreement on the introductory report prepared by companies conducting the technical studies. These technical studies are commissioned by French companies to study the impact of GERD. Ethiopia stated previously that it will not abide by the results of these studies in the construction process, but rather in the operation process.
Generally, Egypt faces a water shortage problem due to the increasing population, minister of irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aaty previously stated. A recent BBC report also suggested that Cairo is most likely to run out of water due to the untreated agricultural and residential waste.
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