LONDON: Ethiopia has been accused of ‘intransigence’ which has lead to the stalling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations, Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation said Saturday.
Mohamed Abdel Ati ruled out a breakthrough in the negotiations of the GERD – which also includes Sudan – stating that the Ethiopian proposal is “unacceptable and does not reflect good neighborly relations.”
Ati also said that the proposal is a clear attempt to impose a fait accompli and does not provide any guarantees during droughts.
The Ethiopian proposal stipulates its right to amend the conditions for filling the GERD, and “wasted all previous understandings,” according to the Egyptian minister.
The dam’s negotiations have been through much controversy, with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi strongly rebuking Ethiopia on Tuesday, accusing Addis Ababa of stalling negotiations over the GERD and moving ahead with plans to start filling the reservoir before reaching a deal.
“A timeline must be set to finish up negotiations, so it does not turn into a new tactic of stalling and shirking responsibility from the 2015 Declaration of Principles which all three countries agreed to,” El-Sisi’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The agreement signed by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan paved the way for diplomatic talks after Addis Ababa began construction of the dam nearly a decade ago.
