Sudan Requests Four-Party Mediation In Nile Dam Dispute

OVERVIEW 

The 15th Prime Minister of Sudan, Abdalla Hamdok has, according to the reports of the foreign ministry, sent letters to the United Nations, African Union (AU), European Union and the United States. Such letters were written in order to formally request their mediation in a bitter regional dispute over the filling of a giant Addis Ababa's dam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile River. It is a massive hydropower dam on the Blue Nile River. In such letters, help was sought for Sudan and their neighbour Egypt, to reach a binding legal agreement with Ethiopia pertaining to when and how they would fill the reservoir behind such enormous dam. Such proposal has been accepted by Egypt.

The Sudanese foreign ministry released a statement on Monday which stated that the Prime Minister had been expressing concerns over the well-communicated and established intention of Ethiopia to add more water to the reservoir behind the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) for the second year. Such an apprehension was observed in the letters sent by him on Saturday.

BACKGROUND

In the year 2011, Ethiopia started building a gigantic hydropower dam on the Nile river. Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt have been at loggerheads for some 10 years over the issue of filling and operation of such dam. Both Egypt and Sudan are located downstream from the GERD which is currently under construction in Ethiopia. They filled such reservoir for the first time in 2020.

The government of Ethiopia insists the dam is essential to its economic development since it would generate hydroelectric power, thus providing electricity for millions of people. 

It is the concern of the Egyptian and Sudanese governments that the dam would reduce the level of the Nile downstream, thereby leading to a deficit of water for agriculture and everyday life which would adversely affect their population. The concern looms larger since

Ethiopia has communicated their intention of filling such dam with water for the second time. At least half of the population of Sudan would be put to risk due to the dam.

Ethiopia had issued its own for tripartite talks and had earlier rejected the requests for four-party mediation, and 

Concerns regarding water flow from the dam during droughts has been raised by both Egypt and Sudan. Egypt primarily is dependant on the Nile for the provision of adequate water to support both their agricultural practices and its population of over 100 million people. 

Sudan has also expressed fears about flooding and the operation of its own Nile River dams. The national security of both Egypt and Sudan could be at stake since the dam, when completed, could serve as a means of political and economic pressure.

Current projections estimate it will be complete and fully operational in 2023.

FURTHER DETAILS 

Ethiopia started to fill the reservoir behind the dam after the failure of Egypt and Sudan to reach a legally binding agreement consensually over the operation of the GERD.

Ethiopian officials hope that the dam which is almost three-quarters complete, would reach full power-generating capacity in 2023, which would help millions of its people economically by its production of hydroelectricity.

Sudan is concerned that the dam could increase the risk of floods thus affecting the safety of more than half the population of the country.

Egypt has called the dam an ‘existential threat’ and is worried that there would be a scarcity of water for agriculture and its people.

CONCLUSION

Sudanese security analyst Hanfi Abdallah is of the opinion that if the countries in question fail to reach an agreement, the resulting Ethiopian-Sudanese dispute would lead to a rise in the regional tensions. 

He feared that Sudan might deliberately make further regional and international efforts to pressurize the country politically and economically in an attempt to punish Ethiopia in case a mutual agreement cannot be reached because of their rigidity of opinion. “The region will witness security implications out of these disputes and turmoil could develop,” he opined.

Security expert General Mohamed Bashir firmly believes that the countries in question should avoid indulging in a war at all costs. He said, “Sudan and Ethiopia could not bear to be involved in a war and worsen their own complicated situations. They should be aware of the implication of such disputes, not only on themselves but also on neighbouring countries,” He feels that the world would not accept a war erupting in such a fragile region.

Dina Mofti, the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs declared that no formal notifications from Sudan and Egypt had been received by his country pertaining to their four-party mediation request to the United Nations, African Union (AU), European Union and the United States. He appreciated the effort taken up by the African Union in order to mediate the dispute in question.

According to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ethiopia was currently open to negotiate the terms of the second filling of the dam, even though the country had earlier dismissed attempts of such negotiations. Filling of the reservoir is scheduled to begin in April.

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION REGARDING THE CALL FOR SUCH MEDIATION? WHOSE STANCE REGARDING THE DAM IS CORRECT IN YOUR OPINION? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!