Sudan announced that the tripartite meeting on the Ethiopia’s mega Nile dam were postponed following the political developments ensuing the resignation of the Ethiopian Prime Minister.
“In response to a request by the Ethiopian side, a tripartite meeting on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which was scheduled to be hosted by Khartoum at technical and ministerial levels during current Feb. 24-25, has been decided to be postponed to a later date to be agreed on by the three countries (Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia),” said Sudan’s Foreign Ministry in a statement.
“The political developments relating to the resignation of the Ethiopian Prime Minister and the ongoing arrangements to appoint his successor necessitated the Republic of Ethiopia to request the postponement of the meetings until a new Prime Minister is elected,” said the statement.
Egypt said it accepts Ethiopia’s request to delay a meeting about the dam. Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said on Sunday that Egypt understands “the circumstances that might have led Ethiopia to request delaying the meeting,” which Cairo hopes will be rescheduled soon.
Egypt fears that the construction of the dam would affect its share in the Nile water, while Ethiopia reiterated that the dam is likely to make a shift in its wealth, namely in the field of electricity.
The dam, extending on an area of 1,800 square km, is scheduled to be completed in three years at a cost of $4.7 billion.