Egypt Seeks International Support in GERD Talks

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). File photo
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). File photo
TT

Egypt Seeks International Support in GERD Talks

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). File photo
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). File photo

Egypt addressed the UN Security Council and the General Assembly on Tuesday, seeking international support on the dispute over the mega-dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile.

Cairo appealed for a UN role that would contribute to resolving the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) crisis through a binding legal agreement.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed the dispute during a telephone conversation.

The FM stressed his country’s keenness to reach a legally binding agreement over the operation and filling of the dam.

He warned against Addis Ababa’s unilateral second filling of the dam next July before reaching a binding agreement, noting that it would affect “regional security and stability”.

Shoukry further pointed to the importance of the role played by the UN and its agencies to push for resuming negotiations and reaching the desired agreement, in addition to backing the African Union in its mission.

According to a foreign ministry statement, Shoukry sent letters to Guterres and the presidents of the Security Council and General Assembly, requesting that they circulate them as an official document.

The letters include various stages of negotiations on the dam and the latest developments, the statement noted.

Ethiopia began constructing the 1.8-kilometer-long GERD in 2011 as a key to its economic development and power generation.

Egypt fears the dam will imperil its supplies of Nile water, while Sudan is concerned about the dam’s safety and water flows through its own dams and water stations.

Both countries continue to stress the need to reach a binding and comprehensive agreement that guarantees the rights and interests of the three countries.

Addis Ababa finished in July 2020 the first phase of filling the reservoir, in preparation for its operation, and announced going ahead with the second filling in the next rainy season.

The latest round of talks between the three countries in Kinshasa ended earlier this month with no progress made.

Sudan and Egypt were aligned on a proposal to include the European Union, United States and United Nations in the negotiations, as an addition to current African Union mediators.

Both countries said Ethiopia rejected the proposal during the meeting, as well as other suggestions to re-start negotiations.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
TT

Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.