Reuters
The former head of the water resources sector at the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation, Abdel Fattah Mutawa, warned of great dangers that may fall to Egypt and Sudan after Ethiopia announced its intention to start the second filling of the Renaissance Dam.
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Mutawa said: “When Egypt and Sudan signed the agreement of principles with Ethiopia, they had no problem with Ethiopia generating electricity, provided that there was a legal framework binding on filling, operation and management operations. Addis Ababa began implementing the first part of the agreement, which is construction, and it disavowed the rest of the terms.” “.
He added to the Russian news agency “Sputnik”: “The current problem now lies in the statements of the Ethiopian Minister of Water, who announced that his country will carry out the second filling of the Renaissance Dam next summer, whether or not there is an agreement with Cairo and Khartoum, and therefore it falls from the agreement signed in 2015. The part that knows very well that it will harm the interests of Egypt and Sudan, and what happened last year in the first filling cannot be compared to what is coming, as there was a flood and large quantities of water, and there was no serious problem, yet Sudan was exposed to risks in the process of generating electricity in the dam Roseires, and drinking water stations in Khartoum faced problems as a result of the unilateral decision of the first filling process.
He continued: “The process of the second filling of the dam needs 13 and a half billion cubic meters of water, so if that step is done without notifying Sudan, which operates its dams, which are definitely after the Renaissance Dam, and it deals with the operation through daily data that comes from the Upper Blue Nile. If Ethiopia is the only one in the second filling without coordination with Sudan and informing it of the daily data of the process of filling the Renaissance Dam and knowing the end of the filling period so that Sudan can take its precautions, unless this happens, there will be a big problem and the declaration of a state of war on Sudan.
And he continued, “As for the second part of the results, which relates to conducting environmental studies of the dam, even if the end of the second filling has been reached, and that the water behind the dam is estimated at 18 and a half billion cubic meters, and if any problem occurs in the Renaissance Dam, this means the complete destruction of the Sudanese dams We are now facing a very serious problem for Sudan, and unless there is a solution and agreement on the filling and operating rules before next July, there will be a major problem, so the international and regional community must resolve the issue early. “
Mutawa pointed out that, “Egypt did not feel any problems with the first filling of the dam last year due to the abundance of rain and floods, but the problem lies in the high years of drought, and this year also Egypt will not feel very dangerous, and the High Dam can compensate for any deficiency currently, so the negative impact is The dam on Egypt will not have the degree of its direct impact on Sudan, and we seek not to add Addis Ababa to the second filling before a binding agreement is reached in order to avoid negative risks to both Egypt and Sudan.
The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, had revealed the country’s water situation and the ministry’s plan to face the challenges facing the country, foremost of which was the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Source: Sputnik
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