Sudan announced Wednesday evening the failure of a new round of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, adding that the three countries decided to refer the file to the African Union.

This tour began October 27, and was to last for a week.

The Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation said in a statement that "this round (...) failed to make any tangible progress."

The statement confirmed that the irrigation ministers in the three countries agreed to end the tour on Wednesday and return the file to the African Union.

Sunday, talks were resumed in Khartoum between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam that Addis Ababa is building on the Nile, and Cairo and Khartoum are objecting to the mechanisms for operating it.

The previous tripartite negotiations failed to reach an agreement to fill the huge reservoir behind the Renaissance Dam, which is 145 meters long.

This dam, which will be used to generate electricity, raises disputes, especially with Egypt, which has a hundred million people, which depend on the Nile River to provide 97 percent of its water needs.

Sudan hopes the dam will help regulate floods, but has also warned that millions of lives would be at "great risk" if Ethiopia filled the dam unilaterally.

On the other hand, Ethiopia believes that the project is necessary for its electrical needs and development, and insists that the flow of water downstream will not be affected.

The Sudanese ministry statement indicated, "Sudan maintained during this round its position of refusing to return to negotiations according to the previous methodology, which did not make progress."

Sudan called for giving a greater role to the African Union experts and observers representing the United States, the World Bank, the European Union and the African Union.

A source close to the negotiations told AFP that "Ethiopia wants experts to take a bigger role only, while Egypt insists that the role be for experts and observers," explaining that "Sudan's position is consistent with the Ethiopian position."

The Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation said in a statement last Sunday, "The three parties agreed to continue discussing the issue through a six-party team that includes two members from each country."

She added that the team would set "a frame of reference for the role of experts in facilitating negotiations between the three countries, to present its report to the water ministers" in the three countries.

Egypt and Sudan, the two downstream countries of the Nile, want to reach a binding agreement on the operation of the dam, which Ethiopia has not agreed to.

Tensions increased between Cairo and Addis Ababa last summer when Egypt lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council.

The negotiations mainly collided with a disagreement over the duration of filling the dam, a topic that became even more urgent after Ethiopia announced July 21 that it had achieved its target fill rate in the first year.

At the end of October, US President Donald Trump spoke about the danger of Egypt destroying the dam, which angered Ethiopia.