Egyptian, Sudanese delegations to discuss Nile dam

Cairo/Khartoum, April 3 : Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has arrived in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), for a new round of talks with Sudanese delegation over Ethiopias disputed Nile dam.In a statement on Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Shoukry, along with Egypts Water Minister, headed to Kinshasa at an invitation from the DRC, the current chair of the African Union, for the new round of talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Meanwhile, Sudans Foreign Ministry announced that the ministerial delegation, also headed by the countrys Foreign and Water Ministers, is set to fly to Kinshasa on Saturday.

"Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi and Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasir Abbas will leave on Saturday to the Congolese capital Kinshasa for the meetings of the Ethiopian renaissance dam, under the patronage of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the current chair of the African Union," the Ministry said in a statement."The Sudanese delegation participates in this round to identify methodology and paths of the talks and reach agreement on them to ensure constructive negotiations that overcome the stalemate that characterised the talks during the past months," it added.

According to the statement, the talks would discuss Sudans proposal of a mediation quartet of the UN, the European Union, the US and the AU to help the three parties reach a binding legal agreement on filling and operating of the GERD.Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia have been in talks for years over the 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 dam project.Egypt and Sudan, downstream Nile Basin countries that rely on the river for its freshwater, are concerned that the dam might affect their share of the water resources.