Khartoum Calls for Internationalizing GERD Talks

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Reuters file photo
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Reuters file photo
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Khartoum Calls for Internationalizing GERD Talks

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Reuters file photo
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Reuters file photo

Sudan has toughened its rhetoric in the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that Addis Ababa is constructing on the Blue Nile.

It called for international mediators to resolve the dispute, including the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the United States.

Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasser Abbas urged parties to the negotiations on the dam to consider GERD a means for regional cooperation rather than political tension between Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Cairo.

The unilateral second filling of the dam in July represents a “direct threat” to Sudan’s national security, SUNA quoted Abbas as saying on Monday. He hoped for a binding agreement between the three countries before the deadline.

He said the filling of GERD threatens electricity generation from Sudan’s Merowe Dam and Roseires Dam, as well as the safety of the Roseires Dam and of 20 million Sudanese living downstream, he stressed.

The Irrigation Ministry has taken several technical and diplomatic precautionary measures to face the possible filling of the mega dam, Abbas noted.

He affirmed that his country is currently working on bolstering the AU mediation and include the UN, EU, and the US in the talks as mediators.

Cairo and Khartoum stress the need to reach a binding and comprehensive agreement that guarantees the rights and interests of the three countries and includes a mechanism for settling disputes on the filling and operation of the dam.

Ethiopia refused to sign a final agreement on the rules of filling and operating the dam earlier in 2020, under the mediation of the US and World Bank, prompting Khartoum to boycott the tripartite talks on January 10.



Trump Calls for Hamas to Be ‘Confronted and Destroyed’ for Hostage Return

 President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)
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Trump Calls for Hamas to Be ‘Confronted and Destroyed’ for Hostage Return

 President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP)

US President Donald Trump said the remaining hostages held in the Israel-Gaza war will only be released “when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!”

“The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site Monday morning.

Fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south in the shattered territory.

Israel's plan to seize control of Gaza City has stirred alarm abroad and at home where tens of thousands of Israelis held some of the largest protests since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held by Palestinian fighters in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

The planned offensive has spurred Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire mediators to step up efforts in what a source familiar with the talks with Hamas in Cairo said could be "the last-ditch attempt."

Hamas told mediators it was ready to resume talks about a US-proposed 60-day truce and release of half the hostages, one official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, but also for a wider deal that would end the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Gaza City as Hamas' last big urban bastion. But, with Israel already holding 75% of Gaza, the military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger hostages still alive and draw troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare.