Ethiopia Tells Egypt it is Willing to Solve GERD Dispute

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as it appears in a satellite image taken on July 20, 2020 (AFP)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as it appears in a satellite image taken on July 20, 2020 (AFP)
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Ethiopia Tells Egypt it is Willing to Solve GERD Dispute

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as it appears in a satellite image taken on July 20, 2020 (AFP)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as it appears in a satellite image taken on July 20, 2020 (AFP)

Ethiopia stressed on Thursday its keenness to solve differences with Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), weeks after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the operation and filling of the mega-dam.

Ethiopian Ambassador to Cairo Markos Tekle held talks Thursday with Egypt’s Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs, Sherif Issa.

He explained Ethiopia’s longstanding position on the GERD negotiations and said the country was willing to resolve the remaining differences among the parties “through talks.”

Issa expressed Egypt’s commitment to hold talks on GERD, according to the Ethiopian Embassy in Cairo.

The meeting has also deliberated on bilateral relations, and the two sides exchanged views on the implementation of initiatives aimed at strengthening the historic relationship between Cairo and Addis Ababa.

Last month, the African Union-sponsored talks to reach a fair and balanced agreement between Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum over the operation and filling of the mega-dam faltered.

Egypt has called GERD an existential threat and worries that it will reduce the country’s share of Nile waters.

Ethiopia says the 145-meter tall dam will be an engine of development and is vital to meet the power needs of its population.

Sudan, in the middle, worries about the effects on its own dams, although it stands to benefit from access to cheap electricity.

The Blue Nile, which meets the White Nile in the Sudanese capital, provides the great majority of the combined Nile’s flow through northern Sudan and Egypt to the Mediterranean.



Toll in Syria Opposition-army Fighting Rises to 242

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
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Toll in Syria Opposition-army Fighting Rises to 242

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

More than 240 people, mostly combatants, were killed as intense fighting approached Syria's northern Aleppo city after the opposition launched a major offensive on government-held areas this week, a monitor said Friday.
On Wednesday, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied Turkish-backed factions launched an attack on government-held areas in the northwest, triggering the fiercest fighting since 2020, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said fighting reached two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the main northern city of Aleppo, where the group’s artillery shelling on student housing killed four civilians, according to state media.
"The combatants' death toll in the ongoing... operation in the Idlib and Aleppo countrysides has risen to 218," since Wednesday, said the British-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.
In addition to the fighters, it said 24 civilians were killed.
Syrian ally Russia launched air strikes that killed 19 civilians on Thursday, while another civilian had been killed in Syrian army shelling a day earlier, said the Observatory which on Thursday had reported an overall toll of about 200 dead, including the civilians.