Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Saudi Arabia denies holding summit on GERD


Tue 02 Mar 2021 | 10:56 AM
NaDa Mustafa

Saudi Minister of State for African Affairs Ahmed Abdul Aziz Kattan revealed on Tuesday the truth behind holding a summit to solve Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) crisis.

 

In televised statements, Kattan denied those 'baseless' rumors, noting that the Saudi-Africa summit is set to be held in Riyadh soon, followed by the Arab-Africa one.

 

"We don't have any undeclared goals in Africa," Saudi Minister confirmed, adding that the kingdom seeks to strengthen its relations with the African continent, in order to restore security and stability to this region.

 

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In a defiant move, Ethiopia announced last Wednesday that the second phase of the GERD reservoir filling would proceed as planned, without reaching a legal binding deal.

 

In press statements, Ethiopian Foreign Ministry Legal Advisor Ibrahim Idris affirmed Ethiopia’s right to build the dam according to a document signed by Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

 

He also added that Addis Ababa will continue the second phase of the dam’s reservoir filling, away from the ongoing negotiations between the three countries.

 

Idris pointed out that his country would proceed with building the dam despite Egyptian and Sudanese ‘ unacceptable’ attempts.

 

Earlier, Sudanese Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Yasser Abbas said that any unilateral step to fill Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam in July would pose a direct threat to its national security.

Both Egypt and Sudan objected to the unilateral decision last July when Ethiopia declared that it completed the first filling of the dam without returning back to both countries or reaching a final legal binding agreement on the filling and operating of the dam.

Sudan has been vocal that GERD is a direct threat to the Roseiers Dam.

Sudan has pulled off the latest round of talks after being ‘surprised’ that the AU has called to resume tripartite negotiations ignoring its demands of holding bilateral meetings between the experts and each of the three countries separately to discuss and identify points of difference.