Sudan says Ethiopia denies filling the Grand Renaissance Dam reservoir
Addis Ababa brushes aside confusion over a statement by the minister for water resources which led to reports that Ethiopia had started to fill the disputed dam
Reuters (Cairo) – Ethiopia has told Sudan that news reports that it had started filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam reservoir on the Blue Nile were incorrect, Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.
Ethiopia’s chargé d’affaires in Khartoum also told a senior Sudanese Foreign Ministry official at a meeting that his country had not closed the dam gates, the statement said.
Ethiopia’s water minister, Seleshi Bekele, said on Wednesday in televised comments, a transcript of which was given to Reuters by his office, that: “The construction of the dam and the filling of the water go hand in hand.
“The filling of the dam doesn’t need to wait until the completion of the dam,” he added.
However, the Sudanese statement quoted the Ethiopian envoy as saying that the minister “did not make the comments attributed to him yesterday about starting the process of filling the dam”.
Three-cornered contracts
Addis Ababa is committed to continuing African Union-sponsored talks with Sudan and Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, its envoy was quoted as saying.
This week talks between the three nations to regulate the flow of water from the dam failed to reach agreement.
Both Sudan and Egypt fear the US$4 billion hydroelectric dam could lead to water shortages in their own nations.
The dam project has raised concerns in Egypt that already limited Nile waters will be restricted further. The Blue Nile is the tributary of the Nile from which Egypt gets 90% of its fresh water.
Egypt asked Ethiopia for urgent clarification of whether it had started filling the reservoir, the Foreign Ministry in Cairo said on Wednesday.
Omar Fahmy and Mahmoud Mourad
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