Two international consultation firms were given a deadline on Sept. 5 to submit an edited version of their technical study on the controversial Ethiopian Dam to be reviewed by experts from Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum.
The tripartite committee of the three African countries, tasked with negotiating establishing the dam without jeopardizing the water share of Egypt and Sudan, had met in Addis Ababa Aug. 20-21 to discuss the delay of agreeing on the technical study presented by the consultations firms.
The committee is planned to convene again in Cairo to endorse the study of the French and Dutch firms, currently being edited upon clarifications and instructions of the three countries.
This is not the first time the deadline of endorsing the technical study has been extended; Egyptian commentators say that Ethiopia purposefully delays the process. When Ethiopia began building the dam after the January 25 Revolution in Egypt in 2011, it said that Egypt’s 55 percent-share of Nile water should be reviewed, and that the dam is necessary for Ethiopia’s development.
