Irrigation Minister Adviser Meghawry Shehata said in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm that Ethiopia is stalling the six-partite meeting of the Renaissance Dam negotiations in order to win time and reach a construction stage that makes it difficult to stop or demolish the dam.
“We have been negotiating for six months,” he said. “We should have finished in just one month.”
Q: Why did Ethiopia postpone the six-partite meeting of the Renaissance Dam negotiations?
A: Ethiopia has been stalling negotiations over Nile water agreements since 1902. This time it is doing so in order to win time and reach a construction stage of the Renaissance Dam that makes it difficult to stop or demolish it.
Q: How long is the postponement?
A: Five days. They say it is because the Ethiopian foreign minister will be in Kenya. We have been negotiating for six months, whereas we should have finished in just one month.
Q: So what do we do about this?
A: We should resume negotiations through the technical committees, which are formed of three experts from each party in addition to international experts. It was they who wrote the report about the threats of the dam since the beginning of the problem.
Q: What if Ethiopia does not respond?
A: Egypt should then compensate Ethiopia for the electricity it intends to generate from the dam and ask it to stop building further. And if she refuses, Egypt should resort to global institutions to find out if Ethiopia has other motives. Egypt’s reaction should be firm and strong.
Q: Has Egypt ever agreed that Ethiopia should build dams?
A: Only on the condition that the designs are presented to Egypt before construction.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
