SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan to try to resolve dam dispute by Jan 15 – Treasury

7/11/19: Multiple sources – Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan to try to resolve dam dispute by Jan 15 – Treasury

• Reuters, by David Lawder

• Bloomberg, by Nizar Manek

• AFP, by Shawn Tandon

 The US Treasury Department has announced that the foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to work toward resolving their dispute over the filling and operation of the Renaissance dam project in Ethiopia by January 15 2020.

 In a joint statement released after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hosted talks to work out differences over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the ministers said they would attend further meetings in Washington on December 9 and January 13 to assess progress in their negotiations.

 Water ministers of the three countries will hold four meetings in Washington, attended by the Treasury and World Bank, according to the statement.

 If an agreement isn’t reached by the deadline, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to invoke an article of a 2015 agreement on Nile-sharing that can lead to them requesting conciliation or mediation, or referring the matter to heads of state, according to the statement.