Tripartite talks on Nile dam to resume on Sunday

Khartoum, Jan 3 (IANS) Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia will hold a new round of talks on Sunday over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile river under the patronage of African Union (AU)."This meeting will discuss Sudan's proposal aimed at reactivating the negotiations via giving a greater role for the AU experts to reach a binding legal agreement on the GERD according to Sudan's previous request and then look into the draft of understanding prepared by the AU experts to reach a satisfactory deal for the three parties," Xinhua news agency quoted Sudanese state media as saying in a report on Saturday.Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Irrigation of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia are expected to participate in the talks.Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have been negotiating under the AU over technical and legal issues related to the filling and operation of the GERD.Ethiopia, which started building the GERD in 2011, expects to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity from the project.But Egypt and Sudan, downstream Nile Basin countries that rely on the river for its fresh water, are concerned that the dam might affect their water resources.
--IANS ksk/