Nile dam row: Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan reach preliminary agreement

As talks continue over a possible agreement on the Nile dam row between Ethiopia, Egpyt, and Sudan, the three countries have made slow progress towards a consensus.

According to Deutsche Welle - DW, the trio has reached a reach preliminary agreement aimed at clearing the way for the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

The three countries gathered at Washington this week to reach an agreement with US president, Donald Trump joining the meeting.

A joint statement was released after three days of meetings in Washington on Wednesday that it would start filling the dam in the 2020 rainy season and it will occur in stages. They didn't give details on how long it would take to fill the dam

The project is worth $5 billion and according to reports, is around 70% complete and promises to provide much-needed electricity for Ethiopia's 105 million people.

Egypt, which gets around 90% of its water from the Nile, is concerned that filling the reservoir behind the dam too quickly could significantly reduce the amount flowing into its borders from the upper Nile basin.

Construction on the 6000-megawatt dam officially began in 2011 along the Blue Nile tributary in Ethiopia's northern highland region.