Struggle for Control of the Nile

Source: The front page of The New York Times print edition on 9 February 2020
The front page of The New York Times print edition on 9 February 2020 ran a lengthy story titled “Bitter Struggle for Control of the Nile: Egypt Sees Ethiopia’s Huge New Dam as Threat to Its Lifeblood” by Declan Walsh and Somini Sengupta.

The article summarizes the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a hydropower project on the Blue Nile, and the state of negotiations involving both countries and Sudan. Talks are ongoing in Washington among representatives of all three countries. President Trump is pressing for an agreement by the end of February. Serious differences between Ethiopia and Egypt remain on the fill rate of the reservoir behind the GERD and the flow or release rate of water from the GERD once the reservoir is filled, especially during years of unusually low rainfall in the Nile Basin region.