Renaissance Dam New Developments
Sudan Events – Rehab Abdullah
The former member of the negotiating Team for the Renaissance Dam, and former Advisor to the Ministry of Irrigation, Dr. Ahmed Al-Mufti, confirmed his support for Egypt’s announcement of “ending the negotiating tracks” regarding the Renaissance Dam.
He told the Sudan Events that this was a position that should have been taken in 2011, before the start of the negotiations, noting that they, as experts, had argued at the time that the negotiations would be “futile because of what Ethiopia had done before the start of the negotiations, which was the completion of all construction arrangements, including laying the foundation stone for the dam,” without prior notification to either Sudan or Egypt, in addition to the preconditions the conditions set by Ethiopia for the negotiations, including that construction would not stop during the negotiations.
Al-Mufti confirmed that this proved that these were “absurd” negotiations, pointing out that this was the reason behind his refusal to participate in negotiations even though he has been an essential part of the Nile water dossier in Sudan since 1994.
He added, “Egypt did well, even if it came too late.”
Al-Mufti said that they have made clear in many of their publications what should be done, including stopping the negotiations as long as Ethiopia refuses to stop its unilateral activities, until the negotiations end, withdrawing from the Declaration of Principles for the Renaissance Dam of 2015, and that Sudan should demand to get back its land upon which the dam is built.
He stressed that there is a lot that will push the UN Security Council to intervene under Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter, to force Ethiopia to conclude a balanced agreement that achieves the interests of the three countries, pointing out that the continuation of the current situation will be a source of instability in the eastern Nile Basin, and beyond that the entire Nile Basin, and will therefore open the door for a series of water wars in the Nile Basin.
