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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)
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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.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.