Sudan Rejects Ethiopian Proposal on GERD Filling

The Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources announced, on Tuesday, that Sudan rejected Ethiopia's proposal to sign a partial agreement on filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is expected to start next July.

In a statement, "the ministry said that Sudan's Prime Minister Abdullah Hamduk informed his Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed of this in his response to a letter from him related to the Ethiopian proposal."

The ministry added : "I consider that the signing of any partial agreement for the first stage cannot be approved, given the presence of technical and legal aspects that must be included in the agreement, defined by the coordination mechanism, data exchange, dam safety, and environmental and social impacts, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The statement quoted Sudan's chief negotiator Hamad Saleh: "Most of the issues are under negotiation, the most important of which is the coordination mechanism, data exchange, dam safety, and environmental and social impacts closely related not only to the first filling, but to all stages of filling and long-term employment, and therefore cannot be fragmented."

In his message, Hamdock emphasized his position on reaching a tripartite agreement between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia, stressing that "the way to reach a comprehensive agreement is the immediate resumption of negotiations."