Talks Over GERD Stalled, Suggestions to Refer File to PMs

Hours ago, it became clear that the talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, have stalled, and differences have broken out between it  and Egypt, weeks before its expected startup.

Mean while, Sudan has made a proposal to refer the matter to the level of prime ministers of the three countries to find solutions to points of dispute, according to Reuters.

Daily negotiations involving irrigation ministers and technical teams began on June 9 in an attempt to reach an agreement on the dam's operation before July, the date that Ethiopia set to start filling the dam's reservoir.

The dam, which has been almost completed, is located on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia near the border with Sudan.

The dam, however, is constituting a potential existential threat to Egypt, which seeks to reach a legally binding agreement that guarantees the minimum flow of Nile water and a mechanism for resolving disputes before the dam starts operating.

The talks, which the United States, the European Union and South Africa follow as observers, come after a previous round of negotiations in Washington that ended without agreement in February.

The Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Yasser Abbas, said late on Wednesday that the Sudanese delegation "requested that the disagreed files be referred to the prime ministers of the three countries in order to reach a political consensus on them, thus providing the political will to allow negotiations to resume as soon as possible," according to statements reported by the Sudan News Agency.

Egypt said that Ethiopia had rejected the proposal and that the negotiations had made little progress.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy stated that the meeting ended with an agreement to continue negotiations after the Sudanese delegation consulted with the Prime Minister of his country.

The statement said, "The most prominent technical issues are resolved through negotiations. However, the complete conclusion of the negotiations will require the resolution of legal issues."