Egypt-Ethiopia-Sudan Summit to Discuss Stalled ‘Renaissance Dam’ Negotiations

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn after signing an agreement on sharing water from the Nile River, Khartoum, Sudan, March 23, 2015 (AP photo by Abd Raouf).
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn after signing an agreement on sharing water from the Nile River, Khartoum, Sudan, March 23, 2015 (AP photo by Abd Raouf).
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Egypt-Ethiopia-Sudan Summit to Discuss Stalled ‘Renaissance Dam’ Negotiations

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn after signing an agreement on sharing water from the Nile River, Khartoum, Sudan, March 23, 2015 (AP photo by Abd Raouf).
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn after signing an agreement on sharing water from the Nile River, Khartoum, Sudan, March 23, 2015 (AP photo by Abd Raouf).

Sudan’s Ambassador to Egypt Abdel Mahmoud Abdel Halim expected to return to Cairo soon to resume his mission, after he was summoned for consultations on Jan. 4.
 
“After the end of the African Union summit (currently held in Ethiopia), the date of the return will be set,” Abdel Halim said, in reference to the improvement of relations between the two countries.
 
Egypt and Sudan saw tense relations over the past month, due to differences over the Halayeb Triangle and Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, in addition to Sudanese accusations, despite Cairo’s denial that it supports rebels against the regime of President Omar al-Bashir.
 
Tension reached its peak with Sudan’s decision to recall its ambassador in Cairo for consultations, with Cairo reacting calmly and cautiously on the official level, accusing regional states of seeking to strain relations between the two countries.
 
On the sidelines of the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir in the first meeting since the diplomatic crisis erupted on January 4.
 
The two leaders said they had agreed to form a ministerial committee to deal with all bilateral issues and overcome all obstacles they might face.
 
Abdel Halim described the Egyptian-Sudanese summit as “very positive and important,” pointing out in a statement cited by the Middle East News Agency: “We have seen a transparent atmosphere between Presidents Sisi and Bashir. This atmosphere will be reflected on relations between the two countries, which are based on common interests.
 
“The two presidents agreed to form a committee comprising the foreign ministers and heads of intelligence and national security to develop a roadmap on how to address concerns and outstanding issues,” he stated.
 
Meanwhile, the presidents of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will meet in Addis Ababa on Monday to try to break the technical deadlock over the Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia is building on the Nile to generate electricity. Egypt says it threatens its share of the River’s water.
 
“The aim is to agree on the resumption of the consultations,” said a diplomat attending the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital.

The diplomat was speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.



Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
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Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo

There are "reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity" are being committed in war-ravaged Sudan's western Darfur region, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said.

Outlining her office's probe of the devastating conflict which has raged since 2023, Nazhat Shameem Khan told the UN Security Council that it was "difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering in Darfur," AFP reported.

"On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear. We have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur," she said.

The prosecutor's office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, Khan said, interviewing victims who fled to neighboring Chad.

She detailed an "intolerable" humanitarian situation, with apparent targeting of hospitals and humanitarian convoys, while warning that "famine is escalating" as aid is unable to reach "those in dire need."

"People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized," Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become "common practice."

"And yet we should not be under any illusion, things can still get worse."

The Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, with some 300,000 people killed during conflict in the region in the 2000s.

In 2023, the ICC opened a fresh probe into war crimes in Darfur after a new conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF's predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide two decades ago in the vast western region.

ICC judges are expected to deliver their first decision on crimes committed in Darfur two decades ago in the case of Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kosheib, after the trial ended in 2024.

"I wish to be clear to those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population -- they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, as Ali Kosheib may have felt in the past," said Khan.

"But we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kosheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court," she added.