On matters concerning the Renaissance Dam, the US State Department told Al-Jazeera that Washington continues to support Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan’s effort to find permanent settlement regarding the dam’s filling.
Khartoum: AlTaghyeer: Agencies
According to Al-Jazeera, the US State Department confirmed Washington will continue supporting the reaching of a permanent settlement regarding the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
The department expressed its understanding of the importance of the Nile waters for the three countries, while affirming the need to resume dialogue under the leadership of the African Union.
On Tuesday, and after consultations with Sameh Shoukry, the European Union confirmed its support for the African Union’s supervision over the Renaissance Dam crisis.
Shoukry, Egyptian Foreign Minister, said that his country’s institutions determine their options at the appropriate time, stressing that Cairo is willing to defend the interests of its people “without complacency”.
For his part, European Union spokesman Peter Stano stated that they will consult international partners who share the same view, such as the United Nations and the United States.
He stressed that the Union is fully prepared to engage in resolving the crisis thoroughly.
Meanwhile, Sudanese Defense Minister Yassin Ibrahim said that his country’s Security and Defense Council had listened to a briefing on the UN Security Council session on the Renaissance Dam.
Ibrahim saw that the council discussed the practical steps necessary to preserve Sudan’s rights.
He also announced the decision to hold an urgent meeting for the Sudanese Supreme Committee of the Renaissance Dam, and another for the Security and Defense Council in the city of “Al-Rosairis”, near the Ethiopian border, to discuss case developments.
Monopolizing Nile Waters
A member of the Planning and Construction Committee of the National Council of the Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, Talahoun Erdono, said that the binding agreement that both Egypt and Sudan are adamant about aims to perpetuate and extend what he called “unilateral colonial treaties that grant the downstream countries the right to monopolize the Nile waters.”
Erdono added that there is no international law that can force Ethiopia to accept a binding agreement to fill the dam, and that it must continue its second-filling phase without interruption.
Erdono believes that after the dam is up and running, both the Egyptian and the Sudanese people can witness for themselves that the Renaissance Dam does not have any negative impact, explaining that the volume of international pressure would greatly diminish after the completion of the second filling.
