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EGYPT-ETHIOPIA-SUDAN-US-WATER
Egypt says accepts US invite to meet on Nile dam dispute
CAIRO, Oct 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Egypt has accepted a US invitation for a
meeting with Sudan and Ethiopia over a protracted Nile dam dispute, the
foreign ministry said.
The meeting, to be held in Washington, would bring together foreign
ministers from the three Nile basin countries to try to break the stalemate
in talks on Ethiopia’s giant hydropower dam.
Egypt’s foreign ministry said late Tuesday that Cairo had “immediately
accepted” the invitation from Washington, without specifying when the meeting
would take place.
Egypt has urged international mediation after saying the latest round of
Nile talks that ended earlier this month had hit another “deadlock”,
following nine years of thwarted efforts.
Ethiopia, which says its project is needed to provide much-needed
electricity, has insisted the dam would not harm downstream countries’ water
shares.
But Egypt is concerned the huge dam would severely reduce the flow of Nile
waters and invokes its “historic rights” under decades-old treaties.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in parliament that
“no force can stop Ethiopia from building the dam”, adding that millions
could be mobilised if necessary.
However, he emphasised that negotiations would be the best means to
resolve the issue.
Last week, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced he would hold
talks with the Ethiopian premier in Russia.
Both leaders are attending a Russia-Africa summit in Sochi this week.
Ethiopia has said the $4-billion dam will begin generating power by the
end of 2020 and be fully operational by 2022.
The Nile serves as a crucial artery for water supplies and electricity for
the 10 countries it runs through.
Its main tributaries — the White Nile and the Blue Nile — converge in
Khartoum before flowing north through Egypt to drain into the Mediterranean
Sea.
Analysts fear the three Nile basin countries could be drawn into a
conflict if the dispute is not resolved before the dam begins operating.
BSS/AFP/SSS/2002 hrs