The deputy head of Sudan's Sovereign Council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, said Sunday his country would work to bridge the gap between Ethiopia and Egypt over the Nile Dam and “reach an agreement" in the years-long dispute.
Dagalo’s remarks, which were carried by Egypt's official news agency Sunday, came at the end of a two-day visit to Cairo where he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Sudan sits between the Egypt and Ethiopia along the Nile's route.
Tensions are rising because of the impasse between Ethiopia and Egypt over the $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It's around 71% complete and promises to provide much-needed electricity to Ethiopia’s 100 million people.
Egypt fears the project could reduce its share of the Nile, the main source of freshwater for Egypt’s population, also more than 100 million people.
There has been a disagreement between Cairo and Addis Ababa after Ethiopia did not attend the latest round of talks over the dam on Feb. 26 in Washington. Ethiopia said it didn't go because it needed further domestic consultations before signing a deal with Egypt.
The US had crafted a draft deal after more than four months of talks on the filling and operation of the dam, and said the final testing and filling of the dam “should not take place without an agreement.”
Egyptian officials have raised concerns that filing the reservoir behind the dam too quickly could significantly reduce the amount of Nile water available to Egypt.
Egypt signed the draft and urged Ethiopia and Sudan to do the same, describing it as “fair and equitable” and in the “common interest of the three countries.”
Ethiopia dismissed the deal, and is now drafting its own proposal on how to resolve the standoff, which will be presented to Egypt and Sudan soon, Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew said in an interview with The Associated Press last week.
