Agreement Reached to Resume GERD Negotiations

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)
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Agreement Reached to Resume GERD Negotiations

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba, northwest Ethiopia. (AFP)

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and his Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed have agreed to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) next week.

Hamdok visited Addis Ababa briefly on Sunday and was accompanied by a high-ranking security and military delegation.

A statement by the Sudanese government said Hamdok held “good” closed-door discussions with his Ethiopian counterpart.

The two officials reached an understanding on various issues that will further augment bilateral cooperation, the statement read.

The last GERD meeting was held on Nov. 21 between Egypt and Ethiopia’s irrigation ministers. Sudan boycotted the talks, calling on the African Union to change the negotiations approach and expand the role of experts.

Both sides also called for an emergency meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an East African regional bloc that Hamdok currently chairs.

IGAD is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa that includes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan Uganda, South Sudan and Eritrea.

The statement did not reveal the purpose for calling for the meeting, but parties will most likely discuss the developments in Ethiopia and the humanitarian and security implications of the Tigray conflict on the region.

In an interview with the local radio station, Beladi, Sudan government spokesperson, Minister of Culture and Information Faisal Mohamed Salih described Sudanese-Ethiopian relations as “good” despite some disputes.

Ethiopia has rebuffed offers to mediate in the Tigray conflict, including from the African Union, and Sudan, he noted, affirming that contacts between both countries has not stopped.

Fighting erupted on Nov. 4 between Ethiopia’s government and the then-governing party in Tigray, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

According to Salih, the Sudanese government has implemented an urgent emergency plan, deployed its forces on the borders with Ethiopia to observe the situation and has taken all humanitarian and military precautions to avert any spillover into Sudan.

Abiy’s government declared victory over the TPLF after its forces took control of the regional capital, Mekelle, on Nov. 29. The TPLF has said it was continuing to fight from mountains surrounding Mekelle.



RSF Leader: Armed Groups Responsible for Escalation in Sudan's El Fasher

Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)
Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)
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RSF Leader: Armed Groups Responsible for Escalation in Sudan's El Fasher

Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)
Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo in southern Darfur. (AFP file photo)

Commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti, slammed on Sunday the “popular resistance,” saying they were a cover for the brigades of the ousted regime and whose members were from the army and other security forces.

In a voice recording on Eid al-Adha, he congratulated the Sudanese people on the occasion, saying their country was “going through extraordinary circumstances because of the war that was sparked by the Islamist movement with the help of the army command.”

This was Daglo’s first address to the public in two months.

“We are pained by the conditions our citizens are going through and we are working on easing their suffering to achieve peace and stability and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid,” he went on to say.

On the situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, Daglo blamed the escalation there on armed factions “that have abandoned neutrality and chosen to side with their slaughterer.”

“They attacked our forces, so we had no choice but to defend ourselves,” he stressed.

He said the development in Wad al-Noura in al-Jazirah state was a military battle between the RSF, army, Islamist movement brigades and the security agency. He declared that the RSF succeeded in deciding the battle in its favor.

Clashes in the rural town have left over 100 people dead and injured.

Daglo stressed the importance of opening humanitarian corridors to deliver aid to the people. “We reject the practices committed by the gang in Port Sudan,” he added, in reference to the army.

He blamed the military for impeding the delivery of aid throughout Sudan, accusing it of war crimes.