Dam construction going full steam while Egypt-Ethiopia talks stall
Ethiopia wooed the press during a recent open house at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, but declined to answer specific questions that could help assess the risks the dam might pose for Egypt.
BENISHANGUL-GUMUZ, Ethiopia — Ethiopia is seeking rapprochement with Egypt through the media after years of rising apprehension over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam of the Blue Nile watershed.
The tension arose almost as soon as then-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi laid the foundation stone in April 2011 for the now almost-finished dam.
Political and technical negotiations between the capitals, Cairo and Addis Ababa, are stumbling as the countries try to agree on policies to reduce the risks Egypt expects if Ethiopia begins operating the dam without considering consulting firms' recommendations.
Al-Monitor was part of the first Egyptian press delegation's visit to the project site July 31, in coordination with the Stockholm International Water Institute and the Nile Basin Initiative's Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office. Ethiopian officials — who traveled from Addis Ababa where policies are made to the Benishangul-Gumuz Region where the Renaissance Dam is — sent a number of positive messages calling for transparent cooperation on dam issues with Egypt and Sudan. They also tried to reassure Egypt's concerned public about Ethiopia's progress on the dam.
