Cairo Seeking Binding Legal Agreement to Avoid Negative Impact of GERD

Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)
Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)
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Cairo Seeking Binding Legal Agreement to Avoid Negative Impact of GERD

Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)
Construction work in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Reuters)

Egypt has been seeking to push Ethiopia to conclude a binding legal agreement that spares it the potential negative impact of the mega dam, which Addis Ababa is constructing on the Nile River.

Cairo fears the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) would affect the flow of its annual share of the Nile’s 55.5 billion cubic meters of water especially that it relies on it for more than 90 percent of its water supplies.

In a phone conversation with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi stressed his country’s firm position on formulating a binding legal agreement that preserves Egyptian water rights and includes Sudan, Ethiopia, and Egypt.

The agreement shall define the rules for filling and operating the dam while preserving Cairo’s water rights, he noted.

The African Union has been sponsoring talks among Cairo, Addis Ababa, and Khartoum since July and attended by observers from the United States and the European Union.

For nearly a decade, talks over the operation and filling of the mega-dam have faltered.

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

The ministers agreed to prepare separate reports, including their countries’ visions to advance the negotiations, and send them to South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Dr. Naledi Pandor.

According to Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady, Sisi received a phone call from Ramaphosa during which both sides discussed and exchanged views on the issue.

Ramaphosa praised Egypt’s efforts to reach a solution on this vital issue and called for coordination during the coming period to work on reaching a fair and balanced agreement.

South Africa’s term ends at the end of 2020 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will take over the AU presidency in 2021.

On Saturday, Sisi also held a phone conversation with his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi during which they discussed regional and continental issues of mutual interest.



Israel’s Military Operation in Gaza Expanding to Seize ‘Large Areas,’ Defense Minister Says

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)
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Israel’s Military Operation in Gaza Expanding to Seize ‘Large Areas,’ Defense Minister Says

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP)

Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said Wednesday. 

Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory was “expanding to crush and clean the area” of gunmen and “seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement. 

The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its security fence and has greatly expanded since the war began in 2023. Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people. 

Katz didn't specify which areas of Gaza would be seized in the expanded operation, which he said includes the “extensive evacuation” of the population from fighting areas. His statement came after Israel ordered the full evacuation of the southern city of Rafah and nearby areas. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel aims to maintain an open-ended but unspecified security control of the Gaza Strip once it achieves its aim of crushing Hamas. 

The minister called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all hostages.” The group still holds 59 captives, of whom 24 are believed to still be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. 

“This is the only way to end the war,” Katz said. 

The Hostage Families Forum, which represents most captives’ families, said that it was “horrified to wake up this morning to the Defense Minister's announcement about expanding military operations in Gaza.” 

The group said the Israeli government “has an obligation to free all 59 hostages from Hamas captivity — to pursue every possible channel to advance a deal for their release,” and stressed that every passing day puts their loved ones' lives at greater risk. 

“Our highest priority must be an immediate deal to bring ALL hostages back home — the living for rehabilitation and those killed for proper burial — and end this war,” the group said. 

Israel continued to target the Gaza Strip, with airstrikes overnight killing 17 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, hospital officials said. 

Officials at the Nasser Hospital said the bodies of 12 people killed in an overnight airstrike that were brought to the hospital included five women, one of them pregnant, and two children. Officials at the Gaza European Hospital said they received five bodies of people killed in two separate airstrikes. 

The war began when Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. 

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including hundreds killed in strikes since a ceasefire ended about two weeks ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.