An agreement on the controversial Ethiopian GERD dam on the Nile is possible between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, with mutual trust, two UN officials said Thursday.
"An agreement on GERD can be reached"
, assured Inger Andersen, director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) during a meeting of the Security Council organized at the request of Tunisia on behalf of Cairo and Khartoum.
Read also: Dam on the Nile: Ethiopia's flagship project worries its neighbors
Inger Andersen spoke of a future
"basis for cooperation"
between the three countries, adding that
"to reach an optimal agreement, trust, transparency and commitment will be essential". “Although progress was made in many areas during the negotiations, no consensus was reached on some critical aspects, including arrangements for the management of prolonged droughts, upstream and downstream planning of GERD and a dispute settlement mechanism ”,
regretted the official.
UN envoy for the Horn of Africa, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga for his part called on
"all parties to deal with the issue constructively and to avoid any statement that would increase tensions in a region already subject to a series of challenges ”. "Each of the countries sharing the waters of the Nile has both rights and responsibilities, and the use and management of this natural resource requires the continued commitment of all the nations involved, in good faith, with a view to achieving a common ground
, ”he argued. In their interventions, the members of the Security Council all encouraged the three countries to overcome their differences towards an agreement under the aegis of the African Union.
The three countries concerned had sent for the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Foreign Affairs for Egypt and Sudan, and in charge of Water and Irrigation for Ethiopia, which considers that the conflict is not an issue of peace and security and does not have to be dealt with by the Security Council. Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been the subject for several years of conflict with Egypt and Sudan who fear for their water resources. Ethiopia, which intends to refill its reservoir in July, assures that the dam is vital to meeting the energy needs of its 110 million inhabitants.
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