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UN Security Council to Discuss GERD Dispute on Thursday

A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
    Washington, Khartoum - Ali Barada and Mohammed Amin Yassin
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UN Security Council to Discuss GERD Dispute on Thursday

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

The United Nations Security Council will likely meet next week to discuss a dispute between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt over the mega dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said on Thursday.

De Riviere, council president for July, pointed out that there was little the Security Council could do other than bring the parties together to express their concerns and then encourage them to return to negotiations to reach a solution on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute.

“I don’t think the council can do much more than that,” he told reporters.

“Frankly, I do not think that the Security Council has the logistical expertise to decide how much water should go to Egypt or Sudan, this matter is outside the scope and capacity of the Security Council,” he responded when asked about the GERD’s second scheduled filling.

Addis Ababa had requested that the council refer the matter to the African Union, de Riviere noted.

Ethiopia’s UN Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie Amde said his country trusts the AU-led process to resolve the dispute.

Addis Ababa finds it inappropriate to discuss issues related to cross-border resources in the Security Council.

The Sudanese government welcomed Saturday the council’s approval of its request.

Spokesman for the Irrigation and Foreign Ministries stressed Khartoum’s keenness to continue with the negotiations to reach a legally binding agreement on the dam’s filling and operation.

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

In a letter to the council head, she urged 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 government reiterated its commitment to the AU-sponsored talks and renewed its proposal to form an international quartet led by the UN, AU, United States and the European Union to tackle the issue.

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Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
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Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

The Israeli military pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes on Tuesday, mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area after the defense minister ruled out a ceasefire until Israeli goals were met.

Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, including command centers and weapons production sites.

It said it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians and repeated its standing accusation that Hezbollah deliberately embeds itself into civilian areas to use residents as human shields, a charge Hezbollah rejects.

In northern Israel, two people were killed in the city of Nahariya when a residential building was hit by a missile, Israeli police said.

Israelis were forced to take shelter across the north as attack drones were launched from Lebanon, the military said. One hit the yard of a kindergarten in a Haifa suburb, where the children had been rushed into a shelter, rescue workers said. None were hurt.

An Israeli strike back across the border killed five people in the Lebanese village of Baalchmay southeast of Beirut, and five more were killed in a strike on the town of Tefahta in the south, Lebanon's health ministry said. Another person was killed in a strike in Hermel in the northeast, it said.

Beirut residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September. Footage of one strike shared on social media showed two missiles slamming into a building of around 10 storeys, demolishing it and sending up clouds of debris.

Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows, killing many of its leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, flattening large areas of the southern suburbs, destroying border villages in the south, and striking more widely across Lebanon.

Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,287 people in Lebanon, the majority in the last seven weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.

WAR GOALS

Israel's new defense minister Israel Katz said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.

"Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel's right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon - disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes," he said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had said earlier on Monday there had been "a certain progress" in ceasefire talks but the main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement.

The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire based on the full implementation of a UN resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006.

The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution.

Israel's offensive has driven more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon, causing a humanitarian crisis.

Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area over the last year.