By Diana Shalhub
ISTANBUL (AA) – Egypt said on Tuesday that talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital on the filling mechanism of the Ethiopian renaissance dam did not produce progress.
"The round of negotiations held in Kinshasa over the renaissance dam [on the ministerial level] on April 5 and 6 didn't achieve progress and didn't lead to an agreement on relaunching further negotiations," said a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry following discussions.
It said Ethiopia rejected an Egyptian proposal, supported by Sudan, to resume talks under the supervision of the DR Congo president.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Addis Ababa's rejection of proposals proves the lack of political will in Ethiopia and its willingness to procrastinate.
Addis Ababa has yet to comment on the Egyptian statement.
Following the three months of talks sponsored by the African Union which failed to reach progress, Egyptian President Adel-Fattah al-Sisi on March 30 cautioned of decreasing Egypt's share of the Nile water.
"Nobody will be permitted to take a single drop of Egypt's water,” said Al-Sisi. “Any harm to Egypt's [Nile] water will affect the stability of the entire region."
Ethiopia is insisting on carrying out the second filling stage of the dam in July, in a unilateral move amid a lack of agreement with neighboring Egypt and Sudan.
Egypt has said the dam would reduce the flow of water downstream. Ethiopia maintains the dam would be vital in addressing the country's acute power shortage.
*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara
