by Mahmoud FoulyCAIRO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing political unrest in Ethiopia is likely to affect the pace of its negotiations with Egypt on the technical studies related to Ethiopia's under-construction giant dam on their shared Nile River and its post-construction filling process. While Ethiopia and Sudan eye massive benefits from the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egypt is concerned it might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of the Nile River water. "Flexibility of Ethiopia's dam talks with Egypt depends on the degree of political instability there," said Amany al-Taweel, director of the African Unit at Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "So, we cannot describe the bilateral relations between Egypt and Ethiopia as tense in general, but they are just at odds when it comes to the dam issue," she added, describing the Ethiopian position regarding the dam negotiations as "ambiguous and evasive." Haggag believes that the ongoing political instability in Ethiopia is likely to delay the pace of negotiations regarding the dam.

Source: Ethiopian News February 18, 2018 19:13 UTC