Ethiopia Calls on UNSC to Encourage Sudan, Egypt to Respect AU-Led Negotiate over GERD

June 25/2021(ENA) Ethiopia called on UN Security Council (UNSC) to encourage Sudan and Egypt to respect the AU-led process and negotiate in good faith over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

According to Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia, in a letter sent to the president of the UNSC on Wednesday, 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 stated 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 further pointed out 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 underscored.

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 noted “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 explained that 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.

Moreover, 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.

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 stated.

Ethiopia reiterated its stand over the tripartite negotiations while calling on the Security Council to encourage Egypt and Sudan to continue negotiating in good faith under the auspices of the African Union.