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Egypt announces failure of talks over Ethiopian dam

September 25, 2017 at 9:30 am

An Egyptian government source has announced the failure of the talks about Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, Almesryoon.com reported on Sunday. The anonymous source said that Cairo is currently studying diplomatic and political moves to maintain its rights to water from the River Nile as guaranteed by international law.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi mentioned his government’s approach to this issue during his speech at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. He stressed that Egypt would commit to the principles of international law in this regard, and insisted that it will go through due process with “confidence and goodwill”.

According to the source, the talks ended because of the failure to achieve any progress on the technical side relating to the division of water and the storage capacity of the Ethiopian dam. In the meantime, construction work on the massive project continues apace.

Cairo is apparently interested in reaching a technical understanding of the storage capacities of the new dam and the other dams along the Nile, as well as the amount of water siphoned off to the countries downstream based on the agreement signed by Al-Sisi in 2015.

Read: Eritrea denies plans to sabotage Ethiopian dam with Egypt