PM, Foreign, Irrigation Ministers to Address Parliament on GERD Crisis

Egyptian Parliament speaker Dr. Ali Abdel-Aal announced on Wednesday that the Prime Minister Dr. Moustafa Madbouli, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Ati are set to attend today’s plenary session and address the MPs on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

The Prime Minister will also make statement on the result of recent negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the GERD crisis.

Following several days of ministerial negotiations on the operation and filling of the dam in Khartoum last week, a spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Water Recourses and Irrigation said on Saturday that Ethiopia had presented a new proposal during the meetings that was "a step back from all the principles previously agreed upon for the filling and operation of the dam."

Egypt has expressed its concerns that when in operation, GERD will drastically reduce its current 55 billion cubic metres of water from the Nile annually, especially during its first filling

The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said last month that a 2 percent decline in Egypt’s Nile water share would turn 200,000 feddans of agricultural land into non-arable land.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted on Saturday that his country “stands ready to resolve any differences and outstanding concerns by consulting the three countries.”

FILLING PROCESS

Both sides agreed on a five stage process for filling the reservoir behind the dam. Ethiopia says that while it could fill the reservoir in 2-3 years, it made a concession by proposing a 4-7 year process.

Egypt did not mention a time frame for filling the dam’s reservoir in a diplomatic note last month that acknowledged Ethiopia’s rejection, but said it was requesting that the initial, two-year stage could be extended in conditions of “severe drought”.

“Meeting this demand is tantamount for Ethiopia to agreeing to make the filling of the GERD subject to Egypt’s approval at any stage,” the Ethiopian note said.

“Ethiopia, therefore, finds this ‘proposal’ a non-starter on technical, economic, and national sovereignty grounds.”

After the first stage of filling, Egypt’s proposal requires a minimum annual release of 40 billion cubic meters of water from the GERD.

Ethiopia said such an amount was unrealistic in years of drought, and that in 1984 the flow had reduced to less than 30 BCM, and that Egypt wanted to “protect itself by putting the burden of coping with extreme drought years entirely on Ethiopia”.