国际英语新闻:U.S.-sponsored talks on Nile dam bring no deal

CAIRO, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- As Egypt announced Saturday it has signed in Washington a U.S.-sponsored agreement regarding Ethiopia's controversial giant dam, Ethiopia expressed disappointment over the move that followed a meeting without Ethiopia's participation.

Egypt said it has signed a U.S.-brokered deal regarding the rules of filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), urging Ethiopia and Sudan to follow suit.

"Egypt looks forward to the acceptance by Sudan and Ethiopia of this agreement and their signing of it at the earliest possible juncture, since it is a fair and balanced agreement that achieves the common interest of the three countries," said the ministry statement.

A ministerial meeting of the water and foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan was scheduled to be held in Washington on Feb. 27-28 to crystalize a final agreement on the rules of filling and operating the GERD.

However, Ethiopia said a day before the meeting that it would not take part in the talks in Washington "because of unfinished consultation with national stakeholders."

Egypt expressed on Saturday its rejection of "Ethiopia's unjustifiable absence from this meeting at this critical stage in the negotiations."

But Ethiopia said it had notified Egypt, Sudan, and the United States that it needed more time to deliberate on the process.

"Ethiopia, as the owner of the GERD, will commence the first filling of the GERD in parallel with the construction of the dam in accordance with the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization and the causing of no significant harm," the Ethiopian foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"The text reportedly initiated by the Arab Republic of Egypt in Washington D.C. is not the outcome of the negotiation or the technical and legal discussion of the three countries," the statement said, adding that Ethiopia made it clear that the guidelines and rules on the first filling and annual operation of the GERD must be prepared by the three countries.

Ethiopia said it is committed to continuing its engagement with Egypt and Sudan to address the outstanding issues and finalize the guidelines and rules.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement on Saturday that his country facilitated the preparation of an agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD based on the provisions proposed by the legal and technical teams of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan and with the technical input of the World Bank.

"The United States believes that the work completed over the last four months has resulted in an agreement that addresses all issues in a balanced and equitable manner, taking into account the interests of the three countries," the statement said.

Mnuchin said the foundation of the agreement is the principles agreed between the three countries in the 2015 Agreement on the Declaration of Principles, in particular the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization, of not causing significant harm, and of cooperation.

He reaffirmed the United States' commitment to remain engaged with the three countries until they sign the final agreement.

Ethiopia, an upstream Nile Basin country, started building its grand hydropower dam in 2011 on the Blue Nile, while downstream Egypt is concerned that the dam might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of Nile water.

Egypt's fellow downstream country Sudan, eyes future benefits from the GERD construction despite Egyptian concerns, as the GERD is expected to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity and become Africa's largest hydropower dam upon completion.

Tripartite negotiations of the three countries have been fruitless for years and the United States has recently sponsored fresh rounds of talks in Washington to push for an agreement that was supposed to be signed by all parties in late February.

Filling the reservoir, with a total capacity of 74 billion cubic meters, may take several years, but Egypt seeks to prolong the period to avoid the negative effects of water shortage, which is a main point of their talks.