Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Sudan, Beatrice Khamisa Wani, and Egypt’s Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati met in Juba on the topic of GERD. During the meeting of the two ministers, the GERD project and the impasse surrounding the talks were discussed.
In addition to GERD, many cooperation issues, especially water management, were discussed at the meeting between the two ministers. In this context, an agreement was reached on the further development of cooperation areas. Abdel Ati visited and examined the underground water facilities under construction around Juba by the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) built by the Addis Ababa administration on the Blue Nile has been enveloped in a 10-year dispute with the downstream countries Sudan and Egypt over the filling and operation of the dam.
Trilateral negotiations between Ethiopia and the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan, stalled in April after Addis Ababa rejected the two countries’ request to internationalize the current mediation of the African Union (AU) with the inclusion of the US, EU, and UN.
Despite the lack of a binding agreement between Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Khartoum, tensions have escalated since Ethiopia announced that the GERD reservoir will begin its second filling phase next month. In this context, Egypt, emphasizing Ethiopia’s uncompromising stance, continues its diplomacy traffic on GERD with regional and global actors, especially Ethiopia’s neighbors.
