Tunisia presented a draft resolution to its 14 partners at the United Nations Security Council urging Addis Ababa to cease the filling of the Renaissance Dam reservoir, which Ethiopia is constructing on the Blue Nile and which has sparked a dispute between Ethiopia and the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan, according to diplomatic sources on Tuesday.
The draft resolution, as reported by the "France Presse" agency, states that the Security Council requests Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to resume their negotiations at the request of both the Chairperson of the African Union and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, so that they can reach a binding agreement on the filling and management of the dam within six months.
According to the draft resolution, this binding agreement must "ensure Ethiopia's ability to generate hydroelectric power from the Renaissance Dam while preventing significant harm to the water security of the downstream countries." The Security Council also calls on the three countries in the draft resolution to refrain from any announcement or action that may jeopardize the negotiation process and simultaneously urges Ethiopia to refrain from unilaterally continuing to fill the Renaissance Dam reservoir.
On Monday evening, Egypt stated that Ethiopia had officially informed it of the commencement of the second filling phase of the Renaissance Dam reservoir, expressing its firm rejection of this action. On Tuesday, Sudan announced that it had received the same notification from Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia's move threatens to escalate tensions among the three countries, while Tunisia, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, has requested an emergency public meeting of the Council on Thursday to discuss this issue.
According to diplomatic sources, Egypt and Sudan are expected to be represented at the meeting at the ministerial level. Ethiopia will participate in the session despite its opposition to its convening.
As of now, the Security Council has not set a date for voting on the Tunisian draft resolution, noting that diplomats have ruled out putting it to a vote during Thursday's session. In preparation for Thursday's session, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, the permanent French representative to the United Nations and President of the Security Council, to explain Egypt's position on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam negotiation crisis. He also held discussions with the US representative to the United Nations regarding the crisis surrounding the dam.
This comes as US State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated on Tuesday that Ethiopia's filling of the Renaissance Dam reservoir is likely to increase tensions and urged all parties to refrain from unilateral actions regarding the dam.
Since 2011, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia have been negotiating to reach an agreement on the filling and operation of the Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia is constructing to become the largest source of hydroelectric power in Africa, with an expected capacity of 6,500 megawatts.
