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(AP) Egypt rejects reports blaming it for Nile dam talks failure

Posted by: Semere Asmelash

Date: Friday, 13 April 2018

Egypt rejects reports blaming it for Nile dam talks failure


FILE - In this Wednesday, April 29, 2015 file photo, a pleasure boat carrying tourists and locals sails in the Nile River at sunset in Aswan, Egypt. Egypt has criticized reports blaming it for the failure of a recent round of talks with Ethiopia and Sudan to reach an agreement over Ethiopia’s massive dam on the Blue Nile River, a tributary of the Nile River. Thursday’s statement by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry says Egypt participated in last week’s meeting in Khartoum “with a positive spirit and a serious desire to reach an agreement.”. (Mosa’ab Elshamy, File/Associated Press)
 April 13 at 11:18 AM

CAIRO — Egypt has criticized reports blaming it for the failure of recent talks with Ethiopia and Sudan to reach an agreement over Ethiopia’s massive dam under construction on a Nile River tributary, and called for a new round of talks to be held in Cairo.

Last week’s discussions included chiefs of intelligence and ministers of foreign affairs and irrigation in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and were the latest attempt to resolve the lingering dispute over the dam’s downstream impact. The meeting took place in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and lasted about 15 hours but ended with no deal.

Egypt fears the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would impact its share of the Nile River, which serves as a lifeline for the country’s 100 million people. Ethiopia, like Egypt, has said that the dam issue is a “matter of life or death.” Sudan appears to be taking Ethiopia’s side of the negotiations.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it participated in last week’s meeting “with a positive spirit and a serious desire to reach an agreement.” It was released after reports emerged suggesting that Egypt is responsible for hampering the negotiations.
Ethiopia’s official news agency, ENA, quoted its Foreign Ministry spokesman Meles Alem as saying that Egypt brought up the 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan during the talks. Egypt receives the lion’s share of the Nile’s waters under that agreement, seen by other Nile nations including Ethiopia as unfair and ignoring their own large populations’ needs.

“Ethiopia’s initiation to minimize any significant harm to downstream countries has long been expressed practically and will continue,” Alem said. “But there will never be negotiation on any agreement that we were never part (of).”

Egypt, however, denied the “accuracy” of the reports and said Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s call for another meeting with his Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts in Cairo serves as “clear evidence” of its keenness to reach a deal.

Egypt rejects reports blaming it for Nile dam talks failure - The ...

Egypt rejects reports blaming it for Nile dam talks failure - ABC News





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