After another failure of the negotiations to reach an agreement on the construction of the Renaissance Dam, Sudan proposes a summit meeting. According to Khartoum, the meeting at ministerial level cannot resolve the outstanding issues. This must now be done at the level of the leaders of the three countries.
Started in early August under the aegis of the African Union (AU), this new round of discussions has again failed. It was supposed to focus on outstanding issues and was seen as a last-chance negotiation.
For ten days, experts from Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan tried to merge the draft agreements of the three countries, but to no avail, as each side was sticking to its own positions.
Addis Ababa wants to link the management of the dam to a renegotiation on water sharing, while Khartoum and Cairo are concerned that the future dam will restrict their access to water and are calling for a dispute resolution mechanism to be included in the final agreement.
“Reaching an agreement requires political will,” the Sudanese Irrigation Minister said Friday, August 28. He stressed that the continuation of the negotiations in their current form will not lead to results and suggested a meeting at the level of heads of state. Time is running out to find an agreement because Addis Ababa has already started filling operations.