Ethiopian Chairperson of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) Negotiation Technical Committee and Senior Advisor to Minister of Water, Irrigation, and Energy Eng. Gedion Asfaw urged Sudan and Egypt to come back to negotiation desk.
Eng. Gedion Asfaw in an exclusive interview with Walta TV said that Ethiopia has put forward the proposal which includes an agreement on the first and second filling of the Dam to Sudan and Egypt. However, they were not willing to accept it; adding that it is a partial agreement asserting fully and comprehensive agreement on filing and operation of GERD.
President of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Current Chairperson of African Union, Félix Tshisekedi has proposed ways to restore trilateral negotiations during his official visit to Ethiopia and Egypt.
“Several accusations are getting up from Sudan and Egypt towards the first and second filling of the Dam impact. Yet that is not proved, there are convincing technical studies that the filling has not an adverse impact on Sudan and Egypt also to the Nile basin countries, he stressed. So they have to refrain from their negative media campaign and internationalizing and politicizing the technical issues.” he noted.
According to Eng. Gedion Asfaw, the 2nd filing does not adversely impact Egypt a couple of times from the foreign Minister of Egypt that is an attitude that could be taken as a positive development. It should be also recognized by Sudan, that the second filling will not pose any harm to the People of Sudan and Egypt also for the Nile basin countries.
He also stated that some stance taken by some major groups is changing, through the diplomatic efforts of the Ethiopian government.
The chairperson also praised the assistance of Ethiopian Diasporas in convincing their community and respective government by presenting basic technical studies towards the GERD filling and operations.
