Ethiopia and Egypt say no agreement in latest talks over a contentious dam on the Nile

FILE - A source of water branching out of the Yusuf Canal, which flows from the Nile through Fayoum, in Qouta town, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than 90% of its water supplies, including drinking water, industrial use and irrigation, fears a devastating impact if The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is operated without taking its needs into account. Ethiopia and Egypt say the latest round of yearslong negotiations to find an agreement over a highly contentious hydroelectric dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile river's main tributary have again ended with no agreement after three days of talks in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) 鈥 Ethiopia and Egypt said the latest round of talks over a huge, highly contentious hydroelectric dam Ethiopia has built on the Nile's main tributary again ended with no deal.

The countries blamed each other after three days of discussions in Addis Ababa concluded on Tuesday.

Egypt's Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said the talks were unsuccessful due to Ethiopia's 鈥減ersistent refusal鈥 to accept any compromise. The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry accused Egypt of putting up 鈥渞oadblocks鈥 in the discussions that prevented any consensus.

Sudan was also a part of the negotiations.

The countries have been for years over the $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011. The dam is on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border and Egypt fears it will have a devastating effect on its water and irrigation supply downstream unless Ethiopia takes its needs into account.

The Blue Nile meets the White Nile in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and then flows onwards through Egypt.

Egypt has referred to Ethiopia鈥檚 dam as an existential threat as the Arab world鈥檚 most populous country relies almost entirely on the Nile to supply water for agriculture and its more than 100 million people.

Egypt is deeply concerned over how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam and wants a deal to regulate that. Ethiopia is using the dam to generate electricity.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed to come to an agreement on the dam within four months. Another round of talks between the three countries in September

The dam began producing power last year and Ethiopia said it had completed the final phase of filling the dam's reservoir in September.

The project is expected to ultimately produce over 6,000 megawatts of electricity, which is double Ethiopia鈥檚 current output and enough to make the East African nation of 120 million a net energy exporter.

Ethiopia has said it will continue to exploit the river with or without an agreement.

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