Khartoum- A number of political developments have occurred in the regional political arena that reflect on the meeting on the Renaissance Dam that is to be hosted by Khartoum on April 4-5 with wide participation from ministers of water resources and foreign affairs and directors of intelligence services in the three countries of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.
The political developments Ethiopia has witnessed recently would reflect on the Khartoum’s meeting, especially under the movements Sudan make in the capitals of the two other countries of Cairo and Addis Ababa along with the movements being made by a delegation of the US State Department in each of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt to make the meeting a success.
Khartoum’s meeting comes in exceptional circumstances considering the political developments in Ethiopia. This is besides the developments in the relations between Sudan and Egypt that had witnessed difficult times before the visit paid by President of the Republic Field Marshal Omer Al Bashir to Cairo recently that resolved a number of outstanding issues between the two countries according to positive statements made by the two sides.
All these are considered as indicators for reaching a breakthrough in the Khartoum’s meeting and finding a joint mechanism for overcoming differences on the dossier of Renaissance Dam.
Minister of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity Mutaz Musa said the differences between the three countries of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt is not because of the absence of information, but in the perspective of the existing facts.
Musa said during a meeting with visiting US State Department’s delegation that Sudan looks to the dossier of the Renaissance Dam through strategic vision for all countries of the area as a model for cooperation and stability in the region and Africa, indicating that Sudan is fully committed to the 1959 agreement and has no ambitions in the rights of the other states and that the Nile Basin states should elevate the values of cooperation among them, which is the optimum option for the benefit of its countries and peoples.
Egyptian Ambassador to Sudan Osama Shaltot declared that the Egyptian Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources and head of the Egyptian intelligence service would participate in the meeting with their counterparts of Sudan and Ethiopia.
Holding of the meeting was decided by the tripartite summit meeting between the heads of state and government of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt which was held in Addis Abba on the sidelines of the recent African summit.
The Egyptian Ambassador said the meeting on the Renaissance Dam in Khartoum comes in completion for the agreement reached during the summit meeting of the three presidents, which was held in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa earlier, explaining that the meeting would discuss all tracks pertinent to Renaissance Dam to create progress and accord on the dam, indicating that the meeting discusses the issues of water security and the security of the Red Sea and territorial waters.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said an American delegation held a meeting with the undersecretary of the ministry to get acquainted with the Sudan’s stance on the issue of the Renaissance Dam.
The spokesman, Gafaar Somi, explained in a press statement that the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdul-Ghani Al Naiem met US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, explaining that the visit comes toget acquainted with the stances of the three countries of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on the issue of the renaissance Dam to form a neutral stance that would enable extending the necessary assistance that would lead to creating common ground assisting in reaching understanding and solutions that satisfy all.
He reiterated Sudan’s stance supporting constructive dialogue among the three states to reach the required understandings on the issue of the Renaissance Dam.
The meeting is considered as an attempt to end the impasse that has been affecting the technical track of the negotiations on the Renaissance Dam since the end of last year.