Sudanese Minister of Irrigation Yasser Abbas said on Wednesday that international mediation was essential for the negotiations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile.
Khartoum urged the US administration and the United Nations Security Council to intervene and mediate in the dispute, warning against growing tension if Ethiopia proceeds in its unilateral moves without a prior agreement.
Abbas held talks with the EU Envoy for Horn of Africa Annette Weber over the dam crisis, reiterating his country's position in calling for an effective mechanism to hold the negotiations between Sudan, Ethiopia, and Egypt.
Earlier, Abbas said that the Ethiopian decision to start filling the dam for the second year in a row constitutes a threat to Sudan. He noted that the information provided by Ethiopia regarding the second filling was of little value after it imposed a fait accompli on the Roseires Dam in South Sudan.
This situation violates Article 7 of the UN Watercourse Convention, he stressed, noting that the measures the Sudanese government took to limit the damages caused the second filling had a heavy economic cost.
For his part, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan called on the EU to continue to support the North African country until it overcomes the current internal and external challenges.
In a meeting with Weber on Wednesday, Burhan affirmed that dialogue is the only way to resolve the GERD crisis.
