29 Jan 2020 - 09:17 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES
Another two-day round of tripartite meetings between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the contentious Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) commenced in Washington, DC 28 January. Talks were supposed to be concluded mid this month but were deferred after failure to reach final consensus
Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Irrigation from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met 14 January in Washington to discuss continuing differences around timing and technical regulations regarding filling and operation of the $ 4 Billion USD Nile dam, hosted by United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and included World Bank President David Malpass.
After the 14 January meeting, some signs of agreement were indicated in a joint statement that “The Ministers noted the progress achieved in the four technical meetings among the Ministers of Water Resources and their two prior meetings in Washington DC and the outcomes of those meetings and their joint commitment to reach a comprehensive, cooperative, adaptive, sustainable, and mutually beneficial agreement on the filling and operation (of the dam)”.
The three countries agreed that the filling process will be implemented in stages to not cause any harm to the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan. “Firstly, the initial stage of filling will be conducted during the Nile wet season, generally from July to August [the annual season of Nile rainwater], and will continue in September, they said, adding that the filling process during this period will be “subject to certain conditions”.
It was also agreed that the dam will be filled with water, in the initial stage, to reach a level of 595 meters above sea level and to generate electricity for the Ethiopians, while taking “appropriate mitigation measures for Egypt and Sudan in case of severe droughts during this stage”, while subsequent stages of the filling process will depend on the hydrological conditions of the Blue Nile by putting into consideration the level needed for producing the electricity for Ethiopia and adopted mitigation measures for Egypt and Sudan.
The three countries previously held a ministerial meeting on the GERD 8-9 January in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as part of talks that began in November 2019 in Washington in an attempt to reach trilateral agreement. On 10 January, Egypt said that negotiations had failed to lead to tangible progress because of Ethiopia’s intransigence.
This was followed, 12 January, by announcement from Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that he asked South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa to act as a mediator among the three countries over the dam.
“As for Cyril Ramaphosa, he is a good friend for both Ethiopia and Egypt and is the upcoming president of the African Union. He can mediate a discussion between both parties to solve the issue peacefully because peace is the foundation of everything here in Africa…That is why he can mediate as a brother of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. I am sure that he will play a significant role in bringing us a win-win approach”, Ahmed said.
The United States and The World Bank have supported and acted as observers to the agreed schedule of talks to work toward completion of an agreement by 15 January, 2020 and that if an agreement is not reached by that date, that Article 10 of the 2015 Declaration of Principles would be invoked, that:
“The three countries commit to settle any dispute resulting from the interpretation or application of the declaration of principles through talks or negotiations based on the good will principle. If the parties involved do not succeed in solving the dispute through talks or negotiations, they can ask for mediation or refer the matter to their heads of states or prime ministers”.
The first of the experts’ meetings, held in mid-November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was followed by claims in Ethiopian media that Egypt and Sudan have accepted Ethiopia’s proposal to start filling the dam in June 2020, when there will be high rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands.
Subsequent talks in Cairo in early December over the filling and operation of the dam did not reach substantial agreement.
A third meeting took place in Khartoum on 21-22 December, with the fourth meeting hosted by Ethiopia 8-9 January, again resulting in deadlock.
Egypt has insisted that Ethiopia should fill the dam reservoir over a period of seven years and release 40 billion cubic meters of water every year. However, Ethiopia wants to fill the dam in 3 years and earlier this year rejected Egypt’s proposal, claiming that it does not “respect current and future rights and development plans of Ethiopia over the Nile and complicates the filling of the dam”.
以賽亞書 19 Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Traditional) (CUVMPT)
預示埃及之禍亂
19 論埃及的默示。
看哪，耶和華乘駕快雲，臨到埃及。埃及的偶像在他面前戰兢，埃及人的心在裡面消化。 2 「我必激動埃及人攻擊埃及人，弟兄攻擊弟兄，鄰舍攻擊鄰舍，這城攻擊那城，這國攻擊那國。 3 埃及人的心神必在裡面耗盡，我必敗壞他們的謀略，他們必求問偶像和念咒的、交鬼的、行巫術的。 4 我必將埃及人交在殘忍主的手中，強暴王必轄制他們。」這是主萬軍之耶和華說的。
5 海中的水必絕盡，河也消沒乾涸。 6 江河要變臭，埃及的河水都必減少枯乾，葦子和蘆荻都必衰殘。 7 靠尼羅河旁的草田，並沿尼羅河所種的田，都必枯乾，莊稼被風吹去，歸於無有。 8 打魚的必哀哭，在尼羅河一切釣魚的必悲傷，在水上撒網的必都衰弱。 9 用梳好的麻造物的，和織白布的，都必羞愧。 10 國柱必被打碎，所有傭工的心必愁煩。
牧伯謀士盡為愚蒙
11 瑣安的首領極其愚昧，法老大有智慧的謀士所籌劃的成為愚謀。你們怎敢對法老說「我是智慧人的子孫，我是古王的後裔」？ 12 你的智慧人在哪裡呢？萬軍之耶和華向埃及所定的旨意，他們可以知道，可以告訴你吧！ 13 瑣安的首領都變為愚昧，挪弗的首領都受了迷惑，當埃及支派房角石的使埃及人走錯了路。 14 耶和華使乖謬的靈摻入埃及中間，首領使埃及一切所做的都有差錯，好像醉酒之人嘔吐的時候東倒西歪一樣。 15 埃及中，無論是頭與尾，棕枝與蘆葦，所做之工都不成就。
