This morning, Sudan announced its rejection of an Ethiopian proposal regarding the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Sudan’s Irrigation and Water Resources Ministry explained in a statement that his country rejects the Ethiopian proposal as "it stipulates that an agreement should only be about the first phase of the filling of the GERD, while it links the agreement with reaching a comprehensive treaty regarding the Blue Nile water."
"The precondition for Sudan’s participation in the Nile dam talks is that an agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD should not be linked with reaching a treaty on the Blue Nile water," it said.
"Sudanese Minister Yasir Abbas sent a letter to South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation concerning Ethiopia’s changed stance," the statement added.
It noted that Abbas thought a message from his Ethiopian counterpart on Tuesday prompted “serious concerns regarding the course of the current talks, the progress achieved and the understandings reached.”
“The Ethiopian proposal represents a great change in the Ethiopian stance and threatens the continuation of the talks led by the African Union,” said Abbas, adding that the proposal constitutes a violation of the Declaration of Principles signed by Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia in March, 2015.
Earlier in Cairo, it was announced that the tripartite negotiations on GERD were suspended to discuss the Ethiopian offer.
A meeting was held Tuesday between the ministers of irrigation of the three countries, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, it included the experts from the African Union and Monitors from the United States and the European Union.
The Egyptian and Sudanese representatives said that the Ethiopian offer contradicted what was agreed during a previous meeting, which stated that the negotiations should focus on the outstanding points in order to reach a final agreement.
The Ethiopian offer had guidelines that did not include any legally binding rules regarding operating and filling of the dam, said Egyptian and Sudanese representatives.
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