CAIRO, Egypt — The fourth round of talks on the Grand Renaissance Dam between Cairo and Addis Ababa, held in Khartoum on Aug. 25-26, focused on the procedures to implement the recommendations of the International Panel of Experts. The panel had reviewed the studies of the Renaissance Dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, and worked to assess the damage that may be inflicted on Egypt.

However, a number of files related to the Renaissance Dam and three other complementary dams were excluded from the talks, although the Egyptian delegation insisted on discussing them, as an informed source who took part in the meeting told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview.

The same source explained that the Egyptian delegation had prepared documents on contentious issues with the Ethiopian side regarding Egypt's share of the Nile waters. The documents included concerns about the damage Ethiopian policy causes by building dams without giving prior notice to downstream countries, as stipulated by international law. The Egyptian side's most important file was on future coordination regarding the Mendaia, Beko Abo and Kara Dodi dams. Ethiopia is preparing to construct these dams once the Renaissance Dam is operational, yet the dams may provoke future crises between Cairo and Addis Ababa. Ethiopia will likely rely on this system of dams to achieve its development goals and monopolize hydropower exports to African countries.

According to official information from Cairo authorities, the three dams will present a real disaster to the lives of the Egyptians. The source said the storage capacities of the Kara Dodi, Mendaia and Beko Abo dams are, respectively: 49 billion cubic meters, 40 billion cubic meters and 42 billion cubic meters of water.