Egypt Seeks to Sideline Sudan from Talks with Ethiopia on Nile Dam

Currently at loggerheads with Sudan, Egypt is seeking to sideline it from talks over Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam on the Nile, the largest hydroelectric dam project in Africa, Addis Fortune newspaper reported.

According to the paper, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has suggested to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, that talks proceed with Ethiopia alone.

“Egypt, in a tense situation with both Sudan and Ethiopia, proposed to exclude Sudan from the negotiations and to proceed with Ethiopia only, a country that shares its view on the issue as ‘a matter of life or death,'” the newspaper reported.

Last December, Egypt asked the World Bank to intercede in resolving tensions with Ethiopia over the dam.

Egypt has first sought to block the project but later it focused its attention to safeguarding its downstream share of Nile water.

Disagreements over a set of domestic and foreign policy issues between Egypt and Sudan came to the fore again after the recent visit of pro-Muslim brotherhood Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the arch rival of President Sisi.