A meeting in Washington DC between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan over Ethiopia’s construction of a dam on the Nile River has ended without a comprehensive agreement. The parties are due to meet again later this month to finalise an agreement.
Egypt has opposed the Grand Renaissance Dam over concerns about its water supply. The United States and the World Bank have been attending the meeting as observers.
Ethiopia says the Washington meeting has produced important results. The parties have not yet agreed to a binding plan for operating the 600MW Ayago hydro -power plant that Ethiopia is building on the Nile River.
For now they have just agreed that the filling of the dam will be between July and September, which is the wet season in Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s Minister for Water says the agreements are yet to be translated into legal rules and guidelines.
Ethiopian citizens maintain that they have a right to operate the dam on the Nile since it is on their soil. Some are using the hash tag ” #ItsmyDam” on their social media handles to show their solidarity with their country on the matter.
However, Egypt has raised concern that any uncoordinated activity on the dam will reduce the water that flows downstream into its territory.
For now, the three countries have avoided invoking a mediation process. Ethiopia hopes, if it comes to that, the mediator will be from Africa.
