Sudan Asks UN Security Council to Meet over Ethiopia’s Controversial Blue Nile Dam

A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
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Sudan Asks UN Security Council to Meet over Ethiopia’s Controversial Blue Nile Dam

A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)

Sudan asked the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to meet and discuss a dispute over a giant dam being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, a government statement said.

Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), while the two downstream countries - Egypt and Sudan - are concerned about it and seeking a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.

Egypt relies on the Nile River for as much as 90 percent of its fresh water and sees the dam as an existential threat. Sudan is concerned about the operation of its own Nile dams and water stations, Reuters reported.

Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi called on the Security Council to hold a session as soon as possible to discuss GERD and “its impact on the safety and security of millions of people,” the government statement said.

In a letter to the council head, she called on him to urge Ethiopia to stop the “unilateral” filling of the dam “which exacerbates the dispute and poses a threat to regional and international peace and security,” the statement added.

Ethiopian officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Sudan and Egypt had already agreed this month to work together on all levels to push Ethiopia to negotiate “seriously” on an agreement, after African Union-sponsored talks remained deadlocked. The two countries called on the international community to intervene.

Earlier this month, Arab states called on the Security Council to discuss the dispute and Ethiopia’s plans to go ahead with the second filling of the dam this summer even without an agreement with Sudan and Egypt.

Ethiopia rejected the Arab League resolution in its entirety, its Foreign Ministry said.

The country previously rejected calls from Egypt and Sudan to involve mediators outside the African Union.

Sudan said earlier in June that it was open to a partial interim agreement on the multibillion-dollar dam, with specific conditions.



Israeli Strikes Kill 14 Palestinians in Gaza, Medical Officials Say

Displaced Palestinians walk near their tents, set up along the beach in the west of Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 11 November 2024. (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians walk near their tents, set up along the beach in the west of Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 11 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 14 Palestinians in Gaza, Medical Officials Say

Displaced Palestinians walk near their tents, set up along the beach in the west of Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 11 November 2024. (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians walk near their tents, set up along the beach in the west of Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 11 November 2024. (EPA)

Palestinian medical officials say two Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman, most in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.

One strike late Monday hit a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the center of the so-called humanitarian zone. At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Video from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded from among tables and chairs set up in the sand in an enclosure made of corrugated metal sheets.

The strike came hours after the Israeli military announced an expansion of the zone, where it has told Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a largely desolate area of dunes and agricultural fields with few facilities or services along the Mediterranean coast of southern Gaza.

Israel faces a deadline this week for the Biden administration’s ultimatum for it to allow more aid into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on US military funding.

Another strike early Tuesday hit a house in the urban Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people including a woman, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The strike also wounded 11 others, it said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either strike.

Israel’s 19-month-old campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities who don’t distinguish between civilians and fighters in their count, but say more than half the dead were women and children.

Israel says it targets Hamas fighters and blames the armed group for civilian deaths, saying it operates in residential areas and infrastructure and among displaced people.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led gunmen stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third believed to be dead.