Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan sign accord on Nile dam

onnaedo

March 24, 2015 6:13 PM

The countries signed the deal on a controversial dam project which Cairo feared would reduce its share of vital waters from the Nile river.

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Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have signed a preliminary deal on the River Nile dam.

The countries signed the deal on a controversial dam project which Cairo feared would reduce its share of vital waters from the Nile river.

The leaders of all of 3 countries gathered in Khartoum on Monday to sign the agreement of principles on Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, at the signing assured citizens that the construction of the Renaissance Dam will not cause any damage to the three states and especially to the Egyptian people.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that "this is a framework agreement and it will be completed" while Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir hailed the deal as "historic".

Egypt, which is heavily reliant on the Nile for agriculture and drinking water, feared that the dam would decrease its water supply.

According to nAl Jazeera, the agreement is made up of 10 principles while the countries have agreed on the "fair use of waters and not to damage the interests of other states by using the waters"

Egypt's Water Resources Minister Hussam al-Maghazi howevergave no details as to when the final agreement would be signed.

Ethiopia began diverting the Blue Nile in May 2013 to build the 6,000 MW dam, which will be Africa's largest when completed in 2017 and is estimated to cost over $4bn.

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