By Bisola Adeyemo
Egypt Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouli has called for a legal binding agreement for filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Madbouli made the call to achieve the interests of all parties through striking a balance allowing Ethiopia to benefit from the dam either in the field of electricity generation or sustainable development without causing harm to downstream countries (Egypt and Sudan).
In a tweet on his Facebook account Tuesday, Madbouli said Egypt showed interest in resuming negotiations at the nearest chance with the aim of finding solutions to points of technical and legal differences and finding a fair and balanced agreement taking into consideration Egypt’s water scarcity and its dependence on the Nile as the main water resource.
He said that Egypt always gives priority to achieving development in Nile basin countries, so it offered assistance to sisterly countries to provide stability for their peoples.
Egypt and Sudan have continued to demand that a legally-binding agreement is reached on GERD to guarantee their water interests and the right of their peoples to the Nile water and prevent any harm to Sudanese dams.
Despite warnings from Egypt and Sudan about any unilateral steps regarding GERD before said agreement is reached, Ethiopia implemented the second phase of filling the dam in July without the two countries’ consent.
