{"id":117357,"date":"2021-04-05T13:59:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T05:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=117357"},"modified":"2021-04-05T13:59:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T05:59:12","slug":"dr-congo-hosts-last-chance-talks-over-contested-nile-dam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=117357","title":{"rendered":"DR Congo hosts \u2018last chance\u2019 talks over contested Nile dam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

KINSHASA, April 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Foreign ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan held talks in Kinshasa on Sunday over Addis Ababa\u2019s contested giant dam on the Nile, seen as vital by Ethiopia and a threat by downstream Egypt and Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese negotiations represent the last chance that the three countries must
seize to reach an accord,\u201d Egypt\u2019s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told
Egyptian media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the accord should allow the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to be filled in time to begin operations in the coming months, before the next rains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dispute over the GERD, built across the Blue Nile, has been simmering
for around a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, who became
chairman of the African Union in February, urged the foreign ministers as he opened the talks \u201cto launch a new dynamic\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ask you all to make a fresh start, to open one or several windows of
hope, to seize every opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He welcomed the willingness of the participants \u201cto seek African solutions
for African problems together\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Egypt and Sudan this month called on Kinshasa to steer efforts to relaunch
negotiations on the contested dam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Tshisekedi, \u201cThe human dimension must be at the heart of these
tripartite negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people of all three countries have a right to water, food and health,
he stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US ambassador to DR Congo, Mike Hammer, attended the start of the
talks, which were set to wrap up on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nile, the world\u2019s longest river, is a lifeline supplying both water and
electricity to the 10 countries it crosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upstream Ethiopia says hydroelectric power produced by the GERD will be
vital to meet the energy needs of its 110 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97 percent of its irrigation and
drinking water, sees the dam as an existential threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudan, also downstream, fears its own dams will be compromised if Ethiopia proceeds with filling the GERD before a deal is reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stressed his
country\u2019s concerns, warning, \u201cNobody will be permitted to take a single drop of Egypt\u2019s water, otherwise the region will fall into unimaginable
instability.\u201d — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINSHASA, April 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Foreign ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan held talks in Kinshasa on Sunday over Addis Ababa\u2019s contested giant dam on the Nile, seen as vital by Ethiopia and a threat by downstream Egypt and Sudan. \u201cThese negotiations represent the last chance that the three countries mustseize to reach an accord,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":117358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117357"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/117358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}