Egypt and Tanzania agreed to intensify coordination on the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that Ethiopia is constructing on the Blue Nile, the principle Nile tributary.
This was reached Nov. 10 when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted his Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Hassan, in Cairo, in her first visit to Egypt since her inauguration as president of Tanzania final March.
Sisi asserted his nation is wanting ahead to reaching a authorized, binding and honest settlement on filling and working the GERD with Ethiopia primarily based on the foundations of worldwide legislation and the resolutions of the UN Safety Council, “away from any unilateral method aimed to impose a fait accompli and disrespect the essential rights of individuals.”
In a joint press conference with Hassan following bilateral talks, Sisi affirmed that water is a matter of nationwide safety for his nation, stressing Egypt’s insistence on its water rights.
Sisi mentioned that reaching an settlement on the GERD would foster safety and stability within the area, obtain the joint pursuits of all events and open cooperation horizons between the Nile Basin international locations.
The 2 heads of state additionally mentioned different points together with boosting financial and improvement cooperation between their two international locations, in keeping with an announcement by the Egyptian presidency.
In addition they agreed to extend bilateral trade exchange and Egyptian investments in Tanzania, particularly in infrastructure, electrical energy, well being care and agriculture.
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have been locked in a bitter decade-old dispute over the GERD. All efforts to resolve the dispute have reached a impasse amid mounting fears of a army battle within the already risky area.
Egypt and Sudan worry the GERD would restrict their Nile River water provide, on which they rely for fulfilling most of their water wants.
Mohammed Soliman, a scholar on the Center East Institute in Washington instructed Al-Monitor that strengthening bilateral ties between Egypt and Tanzania, a key participant in East Africa, builds momentum for Cairo’s calls for for a binding settlement on the Nile.
Soliman mentioned, “Egypt is considered one of Tanzania’s prime financial companions, and presently Cairo is constructing the Julius Nyerere hydropower dam in Tanzania, which is likely one of the largest nationwide initiatives in Tanzania. Egypt desires to reveal its honest intentions and constructive efforts to help different African international locations in attaining their improvement objectives.”
In the course of the press convention with Hassan, Sisi mentioned that the Julius Nyerere dam is a “image of friendship and cooperation” between the 2 international locations. “The venture is an instance of Egypt’s help for the rights of the Nile Basin international locations within the optimum use of their water assets in a means that doesn’t negatively have an effect on different international locations,” he added.
In December 2018, the Arab Contractors Company and El Sewedy Electric Company received the tender for constructing the dam, which is positioned within the Morogoro space on the Rufiji River, at a price of roughly $3 billion. The dam is predicted to be absolutely opened in 2022.
Egypt believes boosting its ties with Tanzania, a Nile Basin nation, may thwart Ethiopian efforts to rethink the distribution of Nile water shares. Addis Ababa desires to incorporate the shares redistribution within the GERD negotiations, which Egypt and Sudan reject.
After talks that lasted greater than 10 years, Tanzania signed, together with Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi in Could 2010 the Cooperative Framework Settlement for the Nile Basin International locations — often called the Entebbe Agreement. Beneath the settlement, the historical water shares of Egypt and Sudan are restricted at 55.5 billion and 18.5 billion cubic meters, respectively, in keeping with the agreements of 1929 and 1959. Egypt and Sudan didn’t acknowledge this settlement.
Throughout his go to to Uganda Aug. 29, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed known as on international locations that haven’t signed or ratified the Entebbe Settlement to take action shortly.
The Entebbe Agreement transfers affect over the Nile River from the downstream international locations — Egypt and Sudan — to the upstream international locations. It opened the door to redistributing water shares among the many basin international locations pro-rata their respective contributions.
The Nile River consists of two essential tributaries. The White Nile originates from Lake Victoria, which touches Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Khartoum in Sudan and from there to Egypt.
Cairo has lengthy been intensifying its movements among the many Nile Basin upstream international locations to mobilize help in its favor within the GERD difficulty and to protect its shares of the Nile waters.
Soliman mentioned that Egypt’s outreach is usually centered on restablishing sturdy bilateral relations with nations within the Nile Basin, East Africa and the Horn of Africa to place itself as an African energy and strengthen its place within the Nile negotiations.
In the meantime, the continuous attempts of the African Union since June 2020 have didn’t dealer a deal to finish the stalemate within the GERD negotiations. Within the last round of negotiations in Kinshasa in April, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) didn’t revive the talks. The events reasonably exchanged accusations of obstructing the talks.
On July 19, Ethiopia introduced the completion of the second filling of the dam’s reservoir, sufficient to generate hydroelectric energy, regardless of Egypt and Sudan’s rejection of this unilateral transfer.
The Ethiopian transfer got here months after a diplomatic escalation that culminated in repeated Egyptian threats to hold out army motion in opposition to the dam if Addis Ababa took this step.
In mid-September, an announcement by the president of the Safety Council known as upon the three disputing international locations “to take ahead the AU-led negotiation course of in a constructive and cooperative method [in order] to finalize expeditiously the textual content of the mutually acceptable and binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD, inside an affordable timeframe.”
Since then, the DRC, the present chair of the African Union, has sought to push the three international locations to renew negotiations, but to no avail.
On Nov. 8, Egypt’s Overseas Minister Sameh Shoukry known as for resuming negotiations “as quickly as potential.” This got here in an announcement by the Overseas Ministry, following a gathering between Shoukry and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington.
In a joint assertion between Egypt and the USA that adopted the US-Egypt strategic dialogue Nov. 8-9, Washington renewed its help for Egypt’s water safety. Each international locations known as for resuming negotiations to succeed in an settlement on the GERD beneath the auspices of the AU.
In the meantime, Sudan is dealing with inside turmoil after the Sudanese army carried out a army coup to undermine the democratic transition course of within the nation. This prompted the AU to suspend Sudan’s membership and freeze its participation within the union’s actions.
Within the meantime, Ethiopia is accused of pushing for freezing Sudan’s AU membership in a bid to create a logical purpose it could invoke earlier than the worldwide neighborhood to postpone the GERD negotiations with a purpose to absolutely give attention to the war in the Tigray region, which has grow to be a threat to the survival of the regime of Prime Minister Ahmed himself.
“The Nile negotiations stay on maintain because of political uncertainties in Sudan and Ethiopia, and that is unlikely to alter quickly,” Soliman concluded.
