Will the next round of Nile dam negotiations produce results?
Amid talks about reviving the tripartite negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, sponsored by the African Union, many question the possibility of their success given the repeated failures in the past decade.
CAIRO — The UN Security Council's presidential statement on Sept. 15 about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam renewed talk about the resumption of the African Union-sponsored negotiations to resolve the decade-long conflict.
But Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement.
The statement comes two months after the Security Council meeting on the GERD crisis, held upon Egypt’s and Sudan’s request in protest against Ethiopia's ongoing unilateral measures. Yet the statement did not set a timeline or framework for the process. Instead, the statement threw all responsibility on the AU.
Despite those omissions, Egypt and Sudan welcomed the statement as they agreed to re-engage in AU-led negotiations. Back in April, during the last round of negotiations held in Kinshasa, Egypt had a different position.
