US envoy in Sudan in a bid to resolve dam dispute

 

The US envoy for the Horn of Africa was in Sudan on Friday; the latest stop on his tour of the region aimed at resolving the decade-long dispute over Ethiopia’s massive dam on the Nile River’s main tributary.

During his two-day visit, Jeffrey Feltman is expected to hold talks with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council; Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and foreign and irrigation ministers, the state-run news agency reported.

Feltman is to discuss the ongoing dispute between Ethiopia on one hand, and Sudan and Egypt on the other over Addis Ababa’s filling; of the reservoir on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

The dispute has exacerbated concerns of an escalation into a military conflict; that could threaten the entire region.

The dispute now centers on how quickly Ethiopia should fill and replenish the reservoir and how much water it releases downstream in case of a multi-year drought.

The latest round of African Union-brokered negotiations in April failed to make progress.

Egypt and Sudan argue that Ethiopia’s plan to add 13.5 billion cubic meters of water in 2021; to the dam’s reservoir is a threat to them.

Cairo and Khartoum have called for the US, the UN, and EU to help reach a legally binding deal.

The agreement would spell out how the dam is operated and filled; based on international law as well as norms governing cross-border rivers.

Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than 90 percent of its water supplies; fears a devastating impact if the dam is operated without taking its needs into account.

Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential; arguing the vast majority of its population lacks electricity.

Sudan wants Ethiopia to coordinate and share data on the dam’s operation to avoid flooding and also protect its own power-generating dams on the Blue Nile; the main tributary of the Nile.

The Blue Nile meets with the White Nile in Khartoum; from where it winds northward through Egypt and also flows into the Mediterranean Sea.