Egypt says GERD talks “can’t be described as positive” as Addis Ababa continues to drag its feet: Tripartite negotiations yesterday between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia struggled to make headway over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), as Ethiopia appeared to push to restart the negotiations from scratch, including on matters that were already agreed upon, Egypt’s Irrigation Ministry said yesterday. Addis Ababa’s request, which essentially undoes all the progress the three countries have made in previous rounds of negotiations, calls into question its commitment to reaching a constructive resolution on the dam, the ministry statement says.

Ethiopia is also still insisting on beginning to fill the dam’s reservoir next month, regardless of whether or not it reaches an agreement with its downstream neighbors by that time, according to the statement. The tripartite talks, in which officials from the US, European Union, and South Africa are acting as observers, will resume today and wrap on Monday. The National also had the story.