FILE – The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia, Sept. 26, 2019.
WHITE HOUSE – The foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met Wednesday in Washington with President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Ethiopia’s Blue Nile.
The massive hydropower dam project has been the focus of an escalating feud between Addis Ababa and Cairo over water resources.The unannounced meeting was not on Trump’s public schedule.
“The meeting went well and discussions will continue during the day!” the president tweeted on Wednesday.
After the White House meeting, the ministers continued discussions with Mnuchin and the President of the World Bank Group David Malpass.
In a joint statement issued by the U.S. Treasury after the meeting, the ministers—Sameh Hassan Shoukry of Egypt, Gedu Andargachew of Ethiopia and Asma Mohamed Abdalla of Sudan—noted the significance of the Nile to the development of the people of their countries, and “reaffirmed their joint commitment to reach a comprehensive, cooperative, adaptive, sustainable, and mutually beneficial agreement on the filling and operation” of the GERD.
The foreign ministers noted their agreement to hold four technical governmental meetings at the level of water ministers. The ministers agreed that the World Bank and the United States would support and attend the meetings as observers.
The meeting, spearheaded by Mnuchin, came about after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi requested that Trump mediate the conflict over The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Egypt has long-sought external mediation on the GERD, while Ethiopia wants to keep the negotiations on a tripartite level.
Countries at odds
All three countries are vitally important to U.S. interests, and the Trump administration’s efforts to facilitate the negotiations over the dam are not at all surprising, said Bronwyn Bruton, director of programs and studies at the Africa Center of the Atlantic Council.