The chairperson of the African Union President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday welcomed the resumption of trilateral negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Ramaphosa said he was satisfied by the recommendations in the report on the GERD talks, appealing to the involved parties to find solutions and reach an amicable agreement.
In a statement seen by the Standard Digital, President Ramaphosa said, “The resumed trilateral negotiations are an indication of the commitment of all parties to the GERD to dialogue as a means toward a peaceful, amicable, and durable solution taking into consideration all the dimensions of the GERD matter.”
About two weeks ago, the AU mediated talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, looking to end a decade-long impasse over waters from the River Nile.
During the meeting, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdouk and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed to resume talks under AU mediation.
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The talks would look to reach a consensus on the outstanding points before Addis Ababa took any further action in the process of filling the dam’s reservoir.
Ethiopia then announced that it would begin filling the GERD in the coming two weeks.
Before the meeting, the country had resolved to fill the reservoir without an agreement from Egypt and Sudan, which could have accelerated the conflict further.
The Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam (GERD), is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the continent and has the potential to be a catalyst for integration and development in the sub-region.
Ethiopia started building the GERD in 2011. On the other hand, Egypt is concerned that the dam might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of the water resources.
