Sudan Warns Ethiopia against Any Unilateral Filling of GERD

On Saturday, 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.

In a statement, the ministers said that Sudan also proposes a mediation role for the United States, European Union, United Nations and African Union in talks about the dam between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.

Both Egypt and Sudan objected 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.

Nevertheless, Abbas affirmed in the messages Sudan’s commitment to continue negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam under the auspices of the African Union (AU) at any time in the event that the methodology negotiation is amended by giving a greater role to experts.

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.

"Sudan cannot bear the endless negotiations that do not end with valuable results and solutions," Abbas said in Saturday statement.

However, he asserted Sudan's commitment to the initiative of the African Union and that his country awaits the scheduling of bilateral meetings between experts and observers and each country separately before the January 10th ministerial meeting.