Khartoum Announces Deal on Filling Renaissance Dam in 7 Years

The Grand Renaissance Dam hydroelectric project in Ethiopia. (AFP)
The Grand Renaissance Dam hydroelectric project in Ethiopia. (AFP)
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Khartoum Announces Deal on Filling Renaissance Dam in 7 Years

The Grand Renaissance Dam hydroelectric project in Ethiopia. (AFP)
The Grand Renaissance Dam hydroelectric project in Ethiopia. (AFP)

Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said on Sunday that Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan have agreed on filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s (GERD) reservoir “over a period of up to seven years.”

The Sudanese official said the two-day talks held on November 15 in Addis Ababa between the three states and in the presence of representatives from the US and the World Bank, made progress on some disputed issues.

He said a breakthrough in the talks was reached over the hydroelectric dam, which has generated much tension between Egypt and Ethiopia over the past few years.

Ethiopia insists the $4 billion hydro-electric barrage is essential for its economic growth given that most of its population still lives without electricity.

Abbas said last week’s negotiations also tackled the “permanent operations of the dam and its effect on the dam systems in Egypt and Sudan.”

While the spokesperson of the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohammed al-Sibai refused to confirm or deny the Sudanese minister’s comments, he told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Addis Ababa talks discussed filling the dam’s reservoir in stages and based on the hydraulic system of the Blue Nile River.

He said that such technique would help prevent any harm to downstream countries.

Representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are set to meet on December 2-3 in Cairo to continue technical talks over outstanding matters.

On Saturday, Ethiopian Ambassador to Egypt Dina Mufti told Asharq Al-Awsat that any misunderstanding between Egypt and Ethiopia should be solved peacefully.

Egypt states that all Nile Valley countries have a right to economic development. However, Cairo insists that this policy should not affect “its interests and rights in the Nile,” particularly that Egypt relies on the river to cover more than 90 percent of its irrigation and drinking water needs.

Meanwhile, the president of the Arab Parliament Mishaal bin Fahm Al-Salami said Sunday he had sent a written message to the Ethiopian prime minister and the head of the Ethiopian House of Peoples’ Representatives announcing the Arab Parliament’s solidarity with Egypt and Sudan in protecting their water security.

In a post on his official Twitter account, Salami stressed the importance of reaching a fair agreement on filling and operating the GERD as soon as possible, and in a way that protects the interests of all parties.



Hundreds of Thousands Flee as Israel Seizes Rafah in New Gaza 'Security Zone'

A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
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Hundreds of Thousands Flee as Israel Seizes Rafah in New Gaza 'Security Zone'

A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
A youth rides a bicycle as people commute along the al-Rashid road, the only route linking the northern and southern parts of the Palestinian territory, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Hundreds of thousands of fleeing Gazans sought shelter on Thursday in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war, as Israeli forces advanced into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of a newly announced "security zone" they intend to seize.

A day after declaring their intention to capture large swathes of the crowded enclave, Israeli force pushed into the city on Gaza's southern edge which had served as a last refuge for people fleeing other areas for much of the war, reported Reuters.

Gaza's health ministry reported at least 97 people killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, including at least 20 killed in an airstrike around dawn in Shejaia suburb of Gaza City.

Rafah "is gone, it is being wiped out," a father of seven among the hundreds of thousands who had fled from Rafah to neighboring Khan Younis, told Reuters via a chat app.

"They are knocking down what is left standing of houses and property," said the man who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions.

After a strike killed several people in Khan Younis, Adel Abu Fakher was checking the damage to his tent.

"Is anything left for us? There’s nothing left for us. We’re being killed while asleep," he said.

The assault to capture Rafah is a major escalation in the war, which Israel restarted last month after effectively abandoning a ceasefire in place since January.

GAZANS FEAR PERMANENT DEPOPULATION

Israel has not spelled out its longterm aims for the security zone its troops are now seizing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu said troops were taking an area he called the "Morag Axis", a reference to an abandoned former Israeli settlement once located between Rafah on Gaza's southern edge and the adjacent main southern city Khan Younis.

Gazans who had returned to homes in the ruins during the ceasefire have now been ordered to flee communities on the northern and southern edges of the strip.

They fear that Israel's intention is to depopulate those areas indefinitely, leaving many hundreds of thousands of people permanently homeless in one of the poorest and most crowded territories on earth. The security zone includes some of Gaza's last agricultural land and critical water infrastructure.

Since the first phase of the ceasefire expired at the start of March with no agreement to prolong it, Israel has imposed a total blockade on all goods reaching Gaza's 2.3 million residents, recreating what international organizations describe as a humanitarian catastrophe after weeks of relative calm.

Israel's stated goal since the start of the war has been the destruction of the Hamas group which ran Gaza for nearly two decades and led the attack on Israeli communities in October 2023 that precipitated the war.

But with no effort made to establish an alternative administration, Hamas-led police returned to the streets during the ceasefire. Fighters still hold 59 dead and living hostages which Israel says must be handed over to extend the truce; Hamas says it will free them only under a deal that ends the war.

Israeli leaders say they have been encouraged by signs of protest in Gaza against Hamas, with hundreds of people demonstrating in north Gaza's Beit Lahiya on Wednesday opposing the war and demanding Hamas quit power. Hamas calls the protesters collaborators and says Israel is behind them.

The war began with a Hamas attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023 with gunmen killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Israel's campaign has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities say.

Rafah residents said most of the local population had followed Israel's order to leave, as Israeli strikes toppled buildings there. But a strike on the main road between Khan Younis and Rafah stopped most movement between the two cities.

Movement of people and traffic along the western coastal road near Morag was also limited by bombardment, said residents.

"Others stayed because they don't know where to go, or got fed up of being displaced several times. We are afraid they might be killed or at best detained," said Basem, a resident of Rafah who declined to give a second name.

Markets have emptied and prices for basic necessities have soared under Israel's total blockade of food, medicine and fuel.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank but has nominal authority over hospitals in Gaza, said Gaza's entire healthcare system was at risk of collapse.