Sudan suggested an initiative for settling the disagreements between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding their dispute about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), by suggesting French consultancy firms BRL and Artlia conduct environmental studies on the impact of the dam, sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Tuesday. Sources added that consulting firms could conduct studies on the amount of water which flows through the river, and the use of water by countries along which the river runs. What Khartoum raised is an ambiguous and incomprehensible issue, the source stated, adding that during the recent meetings in Cairo, Sudan and Ethiopia tried to disregard terms and reference for the implementation of impact studies. Also, the sources said, emptying the study of its content, through more than one baseline, is a fundamental source of the dispute. The sources added that it is not Ethiopia’s right to measure the baseline according to Egypt’s 55.5 billion share of Nile water, which Sudan and Ethiopia are seeking, as part of this figure reaches Egypt from the Ethiopian Highlands and Ethiopia has no share of it.

Source: Egypt Independent November 29, 2017 10:30 UTC