CAIRO – 10 April 2021: Egypt rejects an Ethiopian invitation for Egypt and Sudan to nominate operators for data exchange before the second filling of the grand dam, which Ethiopia intends to implement in July despite the absence of consensus among the three countries. Rounds of negotiations among the three countries on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) have reached a deadlock several times with Egypt blaming the failure on Ethiopia’s intransigence. Egypt and Sudan insist that a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam should be reached before Ethiopia implements the second phase of dam filling. Ethiopia, on the other hand, reiterated that it would complete filling the dam in July whether an agreement is reached or not. Egypt will not accept any understandings or formulations that secure a political and technical cover for the Ethiopian attempts to impose fait accompli on the two downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan.

Source: Egypt Today April 10, 2021 20:16 UTC