Ethiopia Says Not Compelled to Notify Egypt, Sudan on GERD Filling
Arab World
Cairo, London- Mohamed Nabil Helmy and Mustafa Seri
Ethiopia downplayed Sunday the effects of Egypt’s complaint letter to the UN Security Council in protest to Addis Ababa’s plan to fill the controversial hydropower Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). “Ethiopia’s plan to start filling GERD this rainy season is part of the scheduled construction without needing to notify Sudan and Egypt,” said Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Acting Spokesperson Amsalu Tizazu. In an interview with Ethiopia’s news agency ENA, Tizazu said: “There is no way that we have necessarily inform them (Egypt and Sudan) when we will start filling.” He noted that saying that an agreement must be reached before filling the dam is a lame excuse since it is done during the rainy season and cause no significant harm to the downstream countries. “Nothing is expected of us with regard to the filling of dam. This is because they [Egypt and Sudan] know that will happen when construction of the dam reaches at a certain level and after all it is being built to be filled. We do not have the obligation of informing,” Amsalu said. Meanwhile, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed held talks Sunday in Addis Ababa with Sudanese high-level delegation led by Cabinet Affairs Minister Ambassador Omar Bashir Manis. The two sides discussed GERD and border issues. “I welcome Sudan’s high-level delegation as a demonstration of the long-standing strong ties between our two countries. I am pleased with the discussion we held on jointly strengthening our economies, on GERD, border issues, as well as the COVID19 challenge faced,” Ethiopia’s Prime Minister wrote on his Twitter account Sunday. For his part, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok responded in another tweet saying, “Happy to hear that the visit was successful. I am confident that the historic partnership between our countries will remain strong and united in facing these challenging times.” In its 17-page complaint letter to the UNSC, Cairo said: "Ethiopia's unilateral filling of GERD before reaching a final agreement with downstream countries on the rules governing the filling and dam operation is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation between co-riparian countries that share an international watercourse and amounts to material breach of Ethiopia's legal obligations.”
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2289826/ethiopia-says-not-compelled-notify-egypt-sudan-gerd-filling
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