عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Egypt, Sudan Discuss Alternatives for GERD Crisis

Sudan's Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in Khartoum (Reuters)
Sudan's Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in Khartoum (Reuters)
TT
TT

Egypt, Sudan Discuss Alternatives for GERD Crisis

Sudan's Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in Khartoum (Reuters)
Sudan's Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in Khartoum (Reuters)

Egypt and Sudan are discussing alternative options for the dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) after Addis Ababa rejecting a proposal for international mediation.

An Egyptian source has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the upcoming visit of Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to Egypt aims to address joint options in response to Ethiopian intransigence.

Hamdok is expected to start a visit to Cairo on Thursday, at the head of a high-level delegation that includes a number of ministers.

The two sides recently exchanged visits, resulting in joint coordination and understanding on common issues, especially the GERD crisis.

Last Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi visited Sudan and met with the chairman of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, asserting the need for establishing a legally binding agreement over the dam's operation.

Egypt also expressed its support for Sudan’s proposal to form an international mediation, including the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and the African Union.

However, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry rejected the proposal stressing its adherence to African mediation.

Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Dina Mufti said that his country “strongly believes that African problems can be solved through African solutions, and the AU and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are perfectly capable of coming up with win-win solutions to all”.

Mufti added that his country assured the Congolese delegation that recently visited Addis Ababa within the framework of similar visits to South Africa, Egypt, and Sudan, that “Ethiopia has the natural and legal right to utilize its water resources fairly and equitably without causing significant harm to downstream countries.”

He asserted that the questions related to the safety of the dam and the exchange of information raised by the Sudanese side had been adequately answered, noting that "these cannot be grounds for complaints at all."

Addis Ababa refuses to adhere to “the status quo of the colonial era agreements under the name of reaching binding agreements,” stressed Mufti.

The dam, inaugurated by Ethiopia in 2011 on the main tributary of the Nile, raises concerns about its impact on water flow to Egypt and Sudan.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Guterres: Sudan's Warring Forces are Escalating Attacks and Outsiders are Fueling the Fire

Members of Sudan's security forces take part in the opening ceremony of a headquarter facility in the army-controlled Port Sudan, where the government loyal to the army is based on the Red Sea coast, on October 28, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Members of Sudan's security forces take part in the opening ceremony of a headquarter facility in the army-controlled Port Sudan, where the government loyal to the army is based on the Red Sea coast, on October 28, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
TT
TT

Guterres: Sudan's Warring Forces are Escalating Attacks and Outsiders are Fueling the Fire

Members of Sudan's security forces take part in the opening ceremony of a headquarter facility in the army-controlled Port Sudan, where the government loyal to the army is based on the Red Sea coast, on October 28, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Members of Sudan's security forces take part in the opening ceremony of a headquarter facility in the army-controlled Port Sudan, where the government loyal to the army is based on the Red Sea coast, on October 28, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Sudan’s warring military and paramilitary forces are escalating attacks with outside powers “fueling the fire,” which is intensifying the nightmare of hunger and disease for millions, the United Nations chief said Monday.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the UN Security Council that the 18-month war faces the serious possibility of “igniting regional instability from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the Red Sea.”
In a grim report, Guterres said the Sudanese people are living through numerous “nightmares” – from killings and “unspeakable atrocities” including widespread rapes to fast-spreading diseases, mass ethnic violence, and 750,000 people facing “catastrophic food insecurity” and famine conditions in North Darfur displacement sites.
He singled out “ shocking reports of mass killings and sexual violence ” in villages in east-central Gezira province in recent days. The UN and a doctors’ group said paramilitary fighters ran riot in the region in a multi-day attack that killed more than 120 people in one town.
Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions including western Darfur.
The war has killed more than 24,000 people so far, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a group monitoring the conflict since it started. It has created the world's worst displacement crisis, with more than 11 million people fleeing their homes including 3 million to neighboring countries.
Guterres urged both sides to immediately agree to a cessation of hostilities, ensure the protection of civilians for which they bear primary responsibility, and enable humanitarian aid to flow to millions in need.
The secretary-general said he is “horrified” by reports that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, continue to attack civilians in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher and surrounding areas, including displacement sites where famine has been confirmed.
“And I am also horrified by reports of attacks against civilians perpetrated by forces affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces in Khartoum, and by continuing mass civilian casualties due to apparently indiscriminate airstrikes in populated areas,” he said.
Guterres said those who violate international humanitarian law must be held accountable.
The war began four years after a pro-democracy uprising forced the military’s ouster of Sudan’s longtime Omar al-Bashir which was followed by a short-lived transition to democracy.
It has been marked by atrocities such as mass rape and ethnicity-motivated killings. The United Nations and international rights groups say these acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in the western region of Darfur, which has been facing a bitter onslaught by the RSF, which was born out of the Janjaweed.
Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.
That legacy appears to have returned, with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, saying in January there are grounds to believe both sides may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide in Darfur.