Ethiopia insists on Renaissance Dam negotiations under auspices of AU

Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Dina Mufti, reaffirmed his country’s willingness to resume the Renaissance Dam negotiations with Sudan and Egypt at any time under the auspices of the African Union (AU) only.

On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera TV reported Mufti as saying that Ethiopia had not received any official proposal from the quartet.

The statements came in response to Khartoum’s official request for a quadripartite mediation to resolve the dispute over the filling and operating of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok had sent letters to the AU, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States, to form a quadripartite mediation team with the aim of participating in the Renaissance Dam talks.

Addis Ababa had previously announced its intention to start the second phase of filling the dam next July, even without a binding agreement with the two downstream countries.

Sudan, on its part, had threatened to resort to the UN Security Council if Ethiopia refused international mediation to resolve the dam crisis.

Negotiations between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have been stalled for years, amid disagreements over how to fill and operate the dam and each side’s share of the Nile’s water, especially during drought periods.

READ: Ethiopia rejects international mediation proposal