Ethiopia Says GERD Negotiations to Continue, State TV Apologizes for Mistakenly Announcing Start of Filling Process

By Staff, Agencies

Ethiopia said negotiations on the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam [GERD] will continue, hours after contradictory reports over whether Addis Ababa had started filling the dam’s reservoir.

In statements reported by the official Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy Sileshi Bekele said that the GERD negotiations will continue “not only for the benefit of the current generation, but also for the benefit of future generations.”

Ethiopian State TV apologized for what it described as a “misinterpretation” of statements made by the country’s water minister, who was reported as saying that the filling process had begun, quickly prompting responses from Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia later denied that it has begun the filling process.