Talks on Ethiopian Dam Still Flowing Nowhere, Sides Say

The latest round of negotiations over a dam Ethiopia has already built to harness electricity and encourage flood control has left Addis Ababa, Khartoum and Cairo high and dry over downriver rights to the Nile. “[The] water ministers of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia agreed to end this round of negotiations over Ethiopia’s Nile dam,” Sudan’s Water Ministry said in a terse statement following Wednesday’s talks. “This round… failed to make any tangible progress.” Sudan, which has generally sided with Egypt because both are heavily reliant on the Nile and worry that the Grand Renaissance Dam could reduce its water levels, said that this time there had been disagreements between Khartoum and Cairo, noting that Egypt opposes a Sudanese proposal – supported by Ethiopia – to give experts from the African Union more say in the talks. Complicating matters was a statement by US President Donald Trump, who last month angered all involved by saying in an offhand remark that if Egypt was unhappy, it could simply blow up the dam.