Addis Ababa — Egypt's attempt to reimpose the colonial era agreement on water sharing and make water distribution a main agenda in the tripartite negotiations on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) have made the negotiation fail, Trans-boundary rivers and water diplomacy advisor Fakahmed Negash said.
Recall that the negotiation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that had been interrupted for sometime resumed in August 2023.
Since then, the negotiations were held for four rounds in Addis Ababa and Cairo and ended without an agreement.
Ethiopia pointed out on the occasion that Egypt's position restricts its future development and contradicted the articles in the Declaration of Principles on GERD.
The trans-boundary rivers and water diplomacy expert noted that Ethiopia has been reflecting the idea which focuses on fair utilization of the dam and mutual development.
On the other hand, Egypt raises the agenda which enables it to use the water alone, he noted.
Therefore, Egypt's unwillingness to accept the principle of give and take and diplomacy has made previous negotiations, including the recent one, fail.
According to Fakahmed, the tripartite negotiations in the past five years have been going on with the focus on water filling and releasing, but it should have been on power generation.
He stressed that Egypt's desire to put the burden of drought compensation on Ethiopia alone is unprincipled and outside the international experience of resisting drought together.
On the other hand, Egypt's unilateral request for release of 40 billion cubic meters of water from the dam is a ploy to delay the dam's water filling and construction.
Its demand that quota should be set on the amount of water released is also aimed at diverting the agenda of the tripartite negotiation to water sharing and distribution; and Ethiopia has repeatedly stated that it will not accept this agenda.
Ethiopia should be careful to prevent the tripartite negotiation from being dragged to water sharing and distribution, Fakahmed stated, stressing that water sharing should be discussed in the Nile Basin Initiative Cooperation Framework by the Nile basin countries.
According to him, Ethiopia will not accept the unacceptable colonial-era agreements signed in 1929 and 1959 that Egypt wants to remain in place.
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The tripartite negotiation is based on the "Declaration of Principles" agreement signed in Khartoum in 2015 and Ethiopia is carrying out the construction of the dam consistent with the agreement.
The water expert and diplomat revealed that Egypt will continue using different strategies to delay the tripartite talks at different times, he said, stressing that Ethiopia should accordingly take this into consideration and make comprehensive preparations.
He underlined that Ethiopia should carry out diplomatic activities for the implementation of the Nile Basin Comprehensive Cooperation Framework in order to achieve fair utilization of water resources and sustainable development.
Ethiopia has repeatedly expressed its firm commitment to reaching an amicable and negotiated settlement that addresses the interests of the three countries and looks forward to the resumption of the negotiation.
