Talks between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt resumed Sunday over the controversial Ethiopian dam on the Nile River.
The resumption came six weeks after Sudan boycotted negotiations in November, urging the African Union to play a role in reaching a deal over the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The meeting online has centered on the filling and operation of the $4.8 billion near-complete dam.
South Africa's minister for international relations and cooperation had called the meeting to discuss issues relating to the dam. South Africa is the current chair of the Bureau of the African Union (AU).
Sudan’s news agency SUNA said the three countries, during the meeting, reviewed their positions on the possibility for reaching a formula to allow the resumption of negotiations after the submission of the memorandum of agreement to the three countries by the African experts.
The meeting adopted Sudan’s proposal for allocating this week for holding bilateral meetings between the three countries and the experts, SUNA said.
The tripartite meetings are scheduled to resume on January 10.
The three countries have been in talks under the mediation of the AU since June last year after the Washington rounds of negotiation aided by the US and the World Bank broke down.
The latest round of talks brought together foreign affairs and water ministers of the three countries as well as experts assigned by the African Union.
Egypt has been opposing the GERD since construction began in 2011, saying the hydro scheme would reduce the flow of water downstream. Ethiopia maintains the dam would be vital to addressing the country's acute shortage of electricity for domestic and industrial use.
The latest talks came amid border tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan.