(MENAFN - Daily News Egypt) Ethiopia has hired a US lobbying firm, in a bid to step up its influence with the US administration amid rising international tensions over its massive River Nile dam project. The dam, entitled the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), has been the centre of an international dispute, as a series of talks between the three nations involved have faltered, despite African Union (AU) meditation. Last week, the US State Department announced it would cut $100m in foreign assistance to Ethiopia, in response to authorities there unilaterally filling GERD reservoir. Along with these domestic woes, Ethiopia is facing heightened tensions with its downstream River Nile neighbours, Egypt and Sudan, over the filling of the disputed dam on the Blue Nile. On 15 July, talks between Ministers of Water and Irrigation from the three involved countries involved in the talks, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, resumed under AU supervision.

Source: Ethiopian News September 06, 2020 15:56 UTC