South Africa invited to mediate in Nile Dam debate
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, has invited South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to help mediate in its debate with Egypt and Sudan over the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam.
It is not yet clear what role South Africa will play, but the United States has already been attempting to mediate between the parties.
Mr Abiy told journalists at a press conference in Pretoria that Mr Ramaphosa had been invited to take part in the discussions in his capacity as the incoming chairperson of the Africa Union.
“Ethiopia always believes in [a] win-win approach with Egypt and Sudan. The request to President Ramaphosa [is because] he is a good friend for Ethiopia and Egypt, also as the incoming AU chair. He can [facilitate] a discussion between both parties so as to solve the issue peacefully”.
Three-way talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are due to resume today in Washington DC, after the latest round last week ended in deadlock.
Egypt is unhappy with the dam, which is to traverse the Blue Nile, as they say it will allow Ethiopia to control the flow of the river, which provides Egypt with around 90 per cent of its water.
The main point of contention between the parties revolves around the time it will take to fill the reservoir that will accompany the dam.
Ethiopia wants to complete the process in six years, but Egypt has proposed a longer period of ten years to help mitigate the change in flow further downstream.
During talks last year, both sides agreed to a deadline of 15 January to solve many of the long-standing issues, a goal they can restart working towards with this fresh round of negotiations.
If, however, this date is not met, the issue which currently stands at ministerial level, could be elevated to the heads of the respective states.
Four years of discussions have so far yielded little results, and the involvement of both the United States and now South Africa shows the seriousness of the situation.
Photo credit: AFP | Phill Magakoe