Sudan announced, on Thursday, that it will not engage in any talks on the Renaissance Dam, which do not include all the points related to the first filling and operation and the exchange of information.
This came in the words of the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Yasir Abbas, after his meeting in Khartoum with the US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman, and Brian Hunt, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Africa and Sudan, according to a ministry statement.
“Sudan has refused to engage in any talks that do not include all points related to the first filling and operation, foremost of which is the safety of the Roseires Dam (southeast), conducting environmental and social studies, exchanging information, and all points that fall under the continuous safe operation, in addition to clarifying the negotiation methodology to avoid Negatives of previous rounds.
The meeting touched on the developments of the Renaissance Dam file and Washington’s efforts to reach a legal agreement binding on all parties as soon as possible.
The Sudanese side stressed “the importance of implementing what was stated in the presidential statement issued by the UN Security Council in the middle of this month, under the umbrella of the African Union, and encouraging the role of observers to facilitate negotiations.”
The Sudanese and American sides exchanged “visions regarding the exchanged letters between the Sudanese and Ethiopian Ministers of Irrigation during this month, and they also touched upon the damage caused by the second unilateral filling of the Renaissance Dam, the measures taken by Sudan and the cost of this in the absence of coordination and lack of data exchange.”
And on Sunday, an Egyptian study, which relied on orbital rays and European satellite images, warned of the possibility of “the collapse of the Renaissance Dam,” doubting Addis Ababa’s ability to complete the second filling of the dam.
The study said: “There is an imminent danger in a strong scientific way, and we are sounding the alarm about a major threat facing the Sudanese (..) There is a future threat of the possibility of the dam collapsing if it is completely filled.”
Egypt and Sudan exchange accusations with Ethiopia of being responsible for the failure of the dam negotiations, sponsored by the African Union for 5 months, within a negotiating track that began about 10 years ago, due to differences over construction, operation, and filling, amid anticipation of the return of negotiations at the invitation of the Security Council.
