Sudan boycotts faltering talks over Ethiopia’s mega-dam

Sudan boycotted talks on Saturday between Nile Valley
countries over Ethiopia's controversial mega-dam, calling on the African Union
to play a greater role in pushing forward the negotiations that have stalled
for years.
It was the first time that Sudan refused to attend talks
with Ethiopia and its northern neighbor Egypt, which has expressed for years
its fears that the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam on the Blue Nile will
dramatically threaten water supplies downstream.
Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said in a
statement that the current approach to reaching a tripartite agreement on the
filling and operation of Ethiopia's dam had not yielded results, and the AU
should do more to “facilitate the negotiation and bridge the gab between the
three parties.”
Sudan's boycott, however, could derail the complicated
talks, which the AU has already taken the lead role in supporting.
On Thursday, the foreign and irrigation ministers of the
three Nile Valley countries met online, two weeks after they failed to agree on
a new framework for negotiations.
There were no immediate comments from South Africa, which
heads the African Union, Egypt or Ethiopia to Saturday’s move by Sudan. It was
not clear when they would restart negotiations.
Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam has caused severe
tensions with Egypt, which has called it an existential threat and worries that
it will reduce the country’s share of Nile waters.
Ethiopia says the $4.6 billion dam will be an engine of
development that will pull millions of people out of poverty. Sudan, in the
middle, worries about the effects on its own dams, though it stands to benefit
from access to cheap electricity.
Key questions remain about how much water Ethiopia will
release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs and how the three countries
will resolve any future disputes. Ethiopia has rejected binding arbitration at
the final stage of the project.
As well as tension with its Nile Valley neighbors, Ethiopia
was plunged earlier this month into a deadly internal conflict when its federal
government launched a military attack on the northern Tigray region's
administration.
The conflict threatens to pull in Ethiopia’s neighbors,
which include Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea, whose capital came under rocket
attack from the Tigray forces over the weekend. The fighting has sent over
35,500 Ethiopian refugees into Sudan.
Ethiopia rejected a U.S.-crafted draft deal over its dam in
February and went on with the first stage of filling of the dam’s massive
reservoir, leading Washington to suspend millions of dollars in aid to Addis
Ababa.