Sudan Slams Ethiopia Move at Controversial Nile Dam

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during the first power generation ceremony at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, on February 20, 2022. (Getty Images)
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during the first power generation ceremony at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, on February 20, 2022. (Getty Images)
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Sudan Slams Ethiopia Move at Controversial Nile Dam

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during the first power generation ceremony at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, on February 20, 2022. (Getty Images)
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during the first power generation ceremony at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, on February 20, 2022. (Getty Images)

Sudan has condemned neighboring Ethiopia for launching power generation at a controversial dam on the Blue Nile without the agreement of downstream nations, saying the "unilateral move" violated international commitments.

Sudan "has emphasized its rejection of all unilateral measures with regard to filling and operation" of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the spokesman for its negotiating team, Omar Kamel, said in a statement late Monday.

He said the Ethiopian move was a "fundamental breach" of its commitments under international law.

The other downstream nation, Egypt, which has been bitterly opposed to the dam project ever since construction started more than a decade ago, has also sharply criticized Ethiopia for starting up the turbines on Sunday.

Multiple rounds of talks between the three governments since 2011 have failed to produce agreement on its operation.

The two downstream nations had also pushed for an agreement on the filling of the dam's reservoir, but Ethiopia went ahead without one in 2020.

Addis Ababa regards the dam project -- which will be Africa's largest when complete -- as essential to the development of Africa's second most populous country.

Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97 percent of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as an existential threat.

Sudan hopes the project will regulate annual flooding, but fears its own dams will be harmed without agreement on its operation.



RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.