
Commentaries | Mar 23,2019
March 3 , 2020
Ethiopian authorities hope to see the United States will rectify its 'mistaken statement' on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) inferring that Ethiopia should hold back on starting to fill the Dam in July before inking an agreement with Egypt and Sudan.
It is not wrong, says Gedu Andargachew, Minister Foreign Affairs, during a press briefing today he gave today. "We believe the United States will correct [it]."
The authorities responded to a statement from the US government that pushed Ethiopia to sign an agreement before starting water filling and final testing. Gedu spoke to the media alongside with Seleshi Bekele (PhD), minister of Water, Irrigation & Energy, and Nefussu Tilahun, spokesperson of the Prime Minister's Office, accompanied by Reta Alemu, a legal advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The three countries have been in technical meetings in Washington, D.C. involving the World Bank and the United States as observers. However, at the end of last week, the Department of the Treasury issued a statement implying agreements have been reached and urged Ethiopia to sign.
Dubbed the "Guidelines and Rules on the First Filling & Annual Operation of the GERD," the document was prepared with the technical input from the World Bank. It has incorporated an added requirements about drought mitigation, according to Sileshi.
"We needed to go back to our computers to model and analyse the new proposals before signing the document," he said.
Ethiopia is preparing a legal document rephrasing the terms in the proposed document and hopes to table it during the upcoming negotiations.
Even though the United States started its role as an observer, it began acting as a mediator during the negotiation that was held mid-February, according to Gedu.
"Our negotiators voiced their concerns back then, and we even wrote a letter expressing our discontent," he told reporters.
Though the Ethiopian authorities are not happy with the United States' role in the process, they hope to continue negotiations.
"We don't think dropping out of the negotiations will benefit Ethiopia," said Gedu.
While the negotiations continue, the government says construction has not stopped at the Dam, which they claim has reached 71pc completion. It hopes to start water filling - amounting 4.9 billion cubic meters - in the coming rainy season and start testing by February next year.
Ethiopia has the full rights to construct and operationalise the Dam, since it is building it with its own finances, resources and inside its own territory, according to Gedu.
PUBLISHED ON
Mar 03,2020 [ VOL
20 , NO
1036]
Commentaries | Mar 23,2019
Commentaries | Nov 09,2019
Viewpoints | Aug 01,2020
Radar | Jul 13,2020
Radar | Apr 13,2019
Covid-19 | May 31,2020
Fortune News | Jun 15,2019
Radar | May 18,2019
Viewpoints | Aug 03,2019
Radar | Nov 23,2019
January 16 , 2021
It was a sunny day on September 12, 1974. A machine gun mounted on top of a tank was...
January 3 , 2021 . By ABDUREZAK LESMAN
Women wearing netela, a white cotton garment with woven coloured borders, and men in...
December 26 , 2020 . By MAYA MISIKIRÂ
Black and white markings on their legs and large semi-circular rimmed horns that stre...
December 12 , 2020
Dietrich Rogge, founder and CEO of Rockstone, a German-based real estate developer an...
January 16 , 2021
It was a sunny day on September 12, 1974. A machine gun mounted on top of a tank was...
January 9 , 2021
There is something curious about elections that have been conducted in Ethiopia since...
January 2 , 2021
One by one, Workneh Gebeyehu (PhD), executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Auth...
December 26 , 2020
It is refreshing to see a publicised high-level government meeting become somewhat co...
Put your comments here