Africa Confidential, Vol 60 No 22, 7 November 2019
EGYPT/ETHIOPIA/SUDAN
Sisi wants Trump's help to break the impasse with Ethiopia over the Nile dam. They meet in Washington but Addis insists nothing will change
Two negotiating tracks are emerging over the potential flashpoint between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the effects of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the flow of the Nile. The first is the talks in the United States convened by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin set for 6 November. The meeting follows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi's request to President Donald Trump to mediate in the dispute, but Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry insists the talks cannot be called 'mediation' because Ethiopia will merely be reasserting its earlier position.
The other track is the sixth of nine planned meetings of a trilateral scientific group (the third party is Sudan), which is due to take place by the middle of this month in Addis Ababa. The group's work slowed to a standstill last September when Egypt refused to sign off on some meeting minutes and then sought meditation from the US, World Bank, European Union, and Russia.
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https://www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/12789/Two-track_talks_on_the_grand_dam