June 06 2021
The US has sent its Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa on another round of shuttle diplomacy meant to secure an agreement on the use of the Nile waters in the region.
Jeffrey Feltman began his weeklong engagements on Monday, travelling to the Gulf countries of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. He will travel to Nairobi by June 6.
A statement from the State Department on Wednesday said that Feltman will meet senior officials in these countries “to discuss cooperative approaches to supporting a stable and prosperous Horn of Africa, including a resolution of the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that is acceptable to all parties.”
Feltman in May visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan, the four countries involved in the main crises in the Horn, including a tussle over the use of the Nile. He said he was visiting the countries to address what the US called interlinked security issues in those countries.
“The Special Envoy’s travel underscores the Administration’s commitment to lead a sustained diplomatic effort to address the interlinked political, security, and humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa, and he will coordinate US policy across the region to advance that goal,” the Department said last month.
Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have disagreed on how to fill the GERD, which could be Africa’s biggest hydropower generation plant with a capacity of 6400MW of power when complete.
