Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan Exchange Proposals on GERD’s Filling

Excavators dredge the River Nile as part of a clean up operation in Cairo as Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan meet for talks over disputed Nile dam, Egypt, December 3, 2019. (Reuters)
Excavators dredge the River Nile as part of a clean up operation in Cairo as Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan meet for talks over disputed Nile dam, Egypt, December 3, 2019. (Reuters)
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Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan Exchange Proposals on GERD’s Filling

Excavators dredge the River Nile as part of a clean up operation in Cairo as Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan meet for talks over disputed Nile dam, Egypt, December 3, 2019. (Reuters)
Excavators dredge the River Nile as part of a clean up operation in Cairo as Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan meet for talks over disputed Nile dam, Egypt, December 3, 2019. (Reuters)

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan exchanged on Tuesday proposals on formulating a “unified draft” that would lead to an agreement to regulate the rules for filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

The African Union-sponsored talks will continue until August 28, in an attempt to resolve outstanding issues.

For nearly a decade, talks among the three countries over the operation and filling of the mega-dam, which Addis Ababa is constructing on the Nile River and raises Egyptian and Sudanese concerns, have faltered.

Tuesday’s meeting was attended by Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum’s ministers of water resources, observers from the European Union and United States and experts from the AU Commission.

Sudan revealed differences among the three countries over the interpretation of procedures for unifying their drafts on a final deal, which was mentioned in the South African Foreign Ministry’s report.

According to a statement by Sudan’s Irrigation Ministry, the three countries exchanged proposals for the final text of the agreement. It pointed out that they chose both “legal and technical representatives from each country to participate in the merging of the three texts.”

Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas presented proposals for the measures that will be followed during the current round of talks. The statement said the three countries will work to merge their proposals into a unified agreement and hand over a joint project to the AU Chief and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa.

The tripartite meetings will continue Wednesday.

Sudan’s negotiating delegation stressed during a meeting Sunday the importance of returning to the agenda set by Ramaphosa in early August and the experts' report submitted to the mini-African summit held in July.

The meeting is based on the outcomes of the July 21 mini-summit and Sunday’s joint six-party meeting between the ministers of water resources and irrigation and the ministers of foreign affairs from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

The AU is seeking to formulate a unified draft that includes proposals of the three countries, despite the wide differences between Ethiopia’s demands on one hand, and those of Egypt and Sudan on the other, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Cairo fears the potential negative impact of GERD on the flow of its annual share of the Nile’s 55.5 billion cubic meters of water, while Addis Ababa says the dam is not aimed at harming Egypt or Sudan’s interests, stressing that the main objective is to generate electricity to support its development.



Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.