Egypt to reveal new "vision" for Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project at tripartite talks on 24 August

Tripartite discussions between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the future of Ethiopia’s planned Grand Renaissance Dam project are due to be held in Khartoum on 24 August.

The project has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government since May 2013, when images of the dam’s construction stirred public anxiety about the possible effect on Egypt’s potable water supply.

Ethiopia, however, maintains that Egypt’s water share will not be negatively affected by the successful completion of the project, set to be Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam.

In what has been viewed as a demanding and interfering move within Ethiopia, Egypt’s Irrigation Minister, Hossam El-Moghazi, told Mehwar TV that Egypt has a new “vision” regarding Ethiopia’s planned Grand Renaissance Dam project, which it hopes to reach terms on at the 24 August talks in the Sudanese capital.

In a telephone interview, El-Moghazi said the Egyptian delegation will head to Khartoum for two days of discussions on the Grand Renaissance Dam project, regional water security and defense.

“Egypt has a new vision, that will not affect Egypt’s water share, and we are expecting that the other party responds to it,” said El-Moghazi.

The talks are expected to develop the seven main points that Egypt’s President, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, and Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, previously discussed during a meeting in late June – among them fostering dialogue and cooperation between the two countries as well as regional projects to meet the growing demand for water. 

Resuming the work of the tripartite technical committee and respecting international legal principles were also among the points on which both sides had reached common ground. The committee's discussions were originally halted last December when Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir, announced his support for the dam during a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn.

Meanwhile, El-Moghazi said that Egyptian satellite images have revealed that construction has not yet begun on the part of the dam which will reserve the Nile’s water. Regardless, Egypt has demanded that Ethiopia submits the dam’s construction plans for assessment by international experts, prompting anger from within Ethiopia at Egypt’s perceived interference in Ethiopian domestic affairs.

Ethiopian Irrigation Minister, Alamayo Tegno, responded that his country was already committed to the recommendations of an international committee of experts and stressed that Egypt’s water share would not be negatively affected by the completion of the Grand Renaissance Dam.

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Ten killed in Abyei region

At least 10 people were killed in clashes between Arab nomads, militia fighters and police in Sudan's flashpoint Abyei region on 27th February, officials said, in the first report of significant violence since a tentative peace deal.

Both north and south Sudan claim the oil-producing area of Abyei, one of the most likely sources of potential conflict in the build-up to the secession of southern Sudan, due in July.

Fighting in Abyei between Misseriya nomads, linked to the north, and the south-linked Dinka Ngok people marred the start of voting in a referendum in January that saw the south vote for independence.

Later in the month, both sides reached a deal promising to pay blood money for earlier clashes and open up migration routes for livestock. Northern and southern leaders promised to hammer out a settlement on who owned Abyei.

Abyei's chief administrator Deng Arop Kuol , from the Dinka Ngok, told Reuters a group of Misseriya, backed by militia fighters, attacked the settlement of Todach in the early hours of Sunday morning, 27th February.

Kuol said the militia were part of the Khartoum-backed Popular Defence Forces .

" There are senior figures in the government who are inciting people to fight ... We don't know really what they are aiming at. Do they want to disrupt the (north-south border) demarcation process, or the process of the separation of the south? "

Senior Misseriya official Saddig Babo Nimr accused south Sudan's army of starting the fighting by attacking a nomadic camp north of Abyei, adding the fighting continued on Monday.

" You would have to ask the SPLA (southern army) why. From my perspective, they want to evacuate the area of Arabs ... I think the Misseriya are reinforcing ."

Spokesmen from Sudan's northern and southern armies and the north's ruling National Congress Party denied any involvement.

UN peacekeepers visited the site and confirmed attackers, reported to be Misseriya, opened fire twice on a police station on Monday 28th February, killing seven, according to UN spokeswomen Hua Jiang .

Kuol said three attackers were also killed on Sunday, adding he was still waiting for details of Monday's fighting in Todach.

Kuol said there had been little progress in rolling out January's Dinka-Misseriya peace deal. Sunday's clash came days after a meeting between Dinka and Misseriya leaders ended without agreement, he added.

Abyei was a battleground in the decades-long civil war between north and south Sudan that ended in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement - an accord that promised the southern secession referendum.

Abyei residents were promised their own vote on whether to join the north or south. That plebiscite never took place after disagreements over who was qualified to vote and the failure to agree on the members of an organising commission.

Northern and southern leaders were due to meet in the Ethiopian town of Debre Zeit this week to try to resolve other issues, including the division of national debts, the position of their shared border and payments for transporting southern oil through the north to Port Sudan.

Source: Reuters

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

Violence in Darfur higher than in previous two years

Sudan has admitted an increase in violence in Darfur, estimating around 1,200 people killed in conflict and armed clashes. Sudan's State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mutrif Siddiq said that violence in the region has “increased this year compared to the previous two years".

"The increase in violence rates is attributed to two reasons. The first is infiltration of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) into Darfur after the reconciliation between Sudan and Chad, and the second was the tribal clashes," he said.

The minister said that Khartoum has "a comprehensive plan to enhance the security in Darfur," and stressed the significance of disarmament, particularly inside the camps of internally displaced persons (IDPs), further adding that "the humanitarian principles must be applied in the IDP camps which should not be turned into hotbeds for the rebel movements."

Siddiq confirmed Sudanese government's commitment to disarm all persons inside IDP camps, saying "arms must be at the hands of the regular forces only". In order to speed up the realisation of peace in Darfur, the Sudanse government plans to strengthen the presence of official institutions in the region, develop security and improve relations with the neighbouring countries.

Source: People's Daily Online

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.