Sudan submitted a formal request, on Monday, for quadripartite international mediation to resolve the dispute with Ethiopia over the latter’s Nile dam.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk sent letters to the US, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), and the United Nations (UN), asking them to mediate in negotiations. It is hoped that their involvement will help reach a solution for the dispute over filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to the Sudan Tribune newspaper.
In his communications, Hamdouk expressed his desire for mediation to be limited to the contentious points. This is with a view to reach an agreement for resolving disputes and technical issues related to drought and the exchange of information, but does not include water sharing.
Hamdouk criticised Ethiopia’s attempts to include the water-sharing file in the negotiations on GERD, confirming the possibility to reach an agreement before July, the date for the dam’s second filling.
Last Saturday, Sudan’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Yasser Abbas announced that his country will defend its interests by all legitimate means. He said that the absence of political will lies behind the failure to reach an agreement on the dam.
Meanwhile, Egypt officially renewed its approval for Sudan’s proposal to stop direct talks and establish an international mediation, headed by the AU, to break the deadlock in the tripartite negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
Earlier, spokesperson for the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry Dina Mufti said that the issue of the Ethiopian Dam can be resolved under the auspices of the ongoing negotiations led by the AU. He added that this does not require the participation of another party in the case as a mediator.
He asserted that Ethiopia firmly believes in the possibility of solving African problems through African solutions.
