Ethiopia Says It Demands 'African Solution' for GERD Crisis, Rejects Outside Mediation

Renaissance Dam (Ethiopian News Agency)
Renaissance Dam (Ethiopian News Agency)
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Ethiopia Says It Demands 'African Solution' for GERD Crisis, Rejects Outside Mediation

Renaissance Dam (Ethiopian News Agency)
Renaissance Dam (Ethiopian News Agency)

Ethiopia said it strongly demands an "African solution" to its dispute with Egypt and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which it is building along a tributary of the Nile River, raising tensions with the two downstream countries.

MP and Advisor to the Minister of Water and Energy Mohammed Al-Arousi rejected mediation by outside parties.

This came days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the successful completion of the GERD's 3rd filling and launching power production from the second turbine.

African Union-sponsored talks in this regard remain deadlocked since April 2021.

In an interview with ENA, Arousi said that his country believes that "each African problem, has an African solution." Arousi stressed that Ethiopia is generally opposed to mediation by outside parties, saying it was a strategy to exert pressure on his country.

A well-informed Egyptian source said that the UAE seeks to playing an effective role in pushing forward the negotiations and finding a solution to the conflict that has been ongoing for 11 years.

The UAE has been presenting itself as an indirect mediator, the source added.

The Ethiopian official said that politicizing the Renaissance Dam issue has affected Ethiopia internationally but did not impact its insistence on developing its natural resources.

Arousi encouraged opening a new chapter that focuses on real concerns, stressing that talks must be centered on cooperation factors and ways to reinforce them in a way that serves the three states’ interests.



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.