Egypt, Sudan accuse Ethiopia of stalling Nile dam talks
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan continue to trade accusations on the failure of the Nile dam talks, in what some say is an attempt to draw the attention of the new US administration into the regional file.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has recently accused Ethiopia of obstructing negotiations to reach a binding agreement on the giant hydroelectric dam being built by Addis Ababa on the Blue Nile.
In a speech to parliament on Jan. 26, Shoukry said Cairo engaged in US-brokered talks last year to strike a balanced agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that preserves the interests of all concerned parties, i.e., Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
The tripartite talks resulted in a US-mediated draft deal to resolve their dispute. Egypt initialed the agreement, but Ethiopia skipped the signing ceremony and accused then-US President Donald Trump of siding with Cairo. Sudan attended the meeting but did not sign.
“Ethiopia rejected the deal and boycotted the negotiations in Washington and started to unilaterally fill the dam without an agreement on the rules of the GERD filling and operation,” Shoukry said to parliament.
