Ethiopia gives clarification on high water levels of Blue Nile dam

Ethiopia's water minister, Sileshi Bekele on Wednesday has denied that his country has started filling up Africa's largest dam, Blue Nile after satellite images showed higher water levels, according to a news report by Deutsche Welle.

Bekele has said this a day after talks with Sudan and Egypt on the issue came to a deadlock.

Earlier on Wednesday, Minister Sileshi Bekele told the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation that the construction of the dam and filling its reservoir 'go hand in hand' and confirmed recently-released satellite images that showed higher water levels in the reservoir.

Following reports on his remarks, the minister said that higher water levels were due to recent heavy rainfall and not due to the conscious efforts to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Seleshi told, "there is a lot of water going through. There is heavy rainfall and the inflow is much greater than the outflow."

The government of Sudan said on Wednesday that it rejects any unilateral actions with concerns to the dam while negotiating efforts with Ethiopia and Egypt continue.

The statement, released by Sudan's Irrigation Ministry, also said water levels on Sudan's side of the Blue Nile dropped by 90 cubic meters in one day.

Following the reports, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said it was urgently seeking clarification from Ethiopia on the issue.