Ethiopia calls on UNSC to encourage Sudan, Egypt to respect AU-led negotiation on GERD

Addis Ababa, June 25, 2021 (FBC) – Ethiopia has called on the United Nations Security Council to encourage Sudan and Egypt to respect the African Union (AU) led process and negotiate in good faith over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In a letter sent to the president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday, Ethiopia rejected the latest attempts made by Egypt and Sudan to seeking the involvement of the Security Council over the GERD issue outside of its mandate.

Ethiopia said in the letter that Egypt and Sudan’s recent actions are simply a continuation of a well-orchestrated scheme to undermine the AU-led process and eventually declare it ineffective adding that this only erodes trust between the three countries.

The letter stated that since the commencement of the AU-led negotiation over the GERD, both of the lower riparian countries have disrupted the process nine times undermining the genuine efforts of the union and blocking a productive discussion.

The two countries have tried to suffocate the AU-led process by injecting unrelated issues in the discussions, by unnecessarily securitizing and internationalizing the matter, and dragging the Arab league into the situation to further complicate the issue, the letter stated.

Undermining all the genuine, sincere, and encouraging efforts of President Tshisekedi of DRC and his proposal for a phased approach for the GERD talks and the filling of the dam, the letter said Egypt and Sudan have continued to squander the President’s efforts and unduly prolong the process.

With all these under-appreciating approaches to the AU-led process, the letter said, the trilateral talks that were meant to promote cooperation should not serve the downstream states to impose their colonial and monopolistic entitlements as well as their whims and wishes on Ethiopia.

In this regard, the letter stressed that the insistence of downstream Egypt and Sudan, not to allow upstream Ethiopia to fill the dam without their consent is neither backed by international law or practice.

According to the letter, the second-year filling of the GERD will be administered in the coming rainy season starting July following the stage-based schedule and rules on which understanding has been reached in the trilateral process.

The letter concluded its explanation of Ethiopia’s stand over the tripartite negotiations by calling on the Security Council to encourage Egypt and Sudan to continue negotiating in good faith under the auspices of the African Union.