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Wednesday.
Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on Monday that “all options are open” in response to Ethiopia’s building of the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, a tributary to the Nile.
“There should be discussions around these issues . . . aimed at having a win-win situation,” AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said.
“Both countries need the water,” she said.
Egypt says its “historic rights” to the Nile are guaranteed by two treaties from 1929 and 1959, which allow it 87 percent of the Nile’s flow and give it veto power over upstream projects.
But a new deal was signed in 2010 by other Nile Basin countries, including Ethiopia, allowing them to work on river projects without Cairo’s prior agreement.
Talks between the two should focus on finding a solution “in a new context, not in the context of the colonial powers”, Dlamini-Zuma said, without elaborating.
Ethiopia last month began diverting the Blue Nile a short distance from its natural course, for the construction of the dam, but has assured its neighbours downstream that water levels would not be affected.
A study by international experts on the dam’s effect on the river has been submitted to Egypt and Sudan, which also relies on Nile resources and supports Ethiopia’s hydro-electric project.
Egypt has dismissed the study’s findings, which minimise the dam’s effect, and has called for further assessments.
Ethiopia has pledged to press ahead with construction of the US$4,2 billion dam, which will produce 6 000MW of electricity when complete.
The Egyptian foreign minister is expected to visit Ethiopia soon, although no date has been confirmed.
The first phase of the Grand Renaissance Dam is expected to be completed in 2016 and will generate 700MW of electricity, making it Africa’s largest hydro-electric dam scheme.
Ethiopia plans to export electricity from the dam to Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya. The Blue Nile joins the White Nile in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to form the Nile, which then flows through Egypt. — Sapa-AFP.
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