CAIRO — A few days before Ethiopia starts the second-round filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, scheduled for July 1, Egypt has once again appealed to the UN Security Council. Egypt's plea has wide Arab support after various initiatives and mediation efforts have failed to resolve the dispute.

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of an Arab League meeting in Doha June 15, Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said, “The Arab ministerial council called on the UN Security Council to convene an urgent meeting to discuss the necessary actions to be taken in response to the Ethiopian government’s measures that affect Egypt’s and Sudan’s water security and rights.”

He added, “Several decisions were issued at the ministerial meeting. They all affirm a strong Arab support to Egypt and Sudan and stress that their water security is integral to Arab national security.”

On June 11, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry addressed a letter to the UN Security Council president expressing Egypt’s objection to Ethiopia’s plan to fill the GERD reservoir during the flood season, its efforts to impose a fait accompli on the two downstream countries and its unilateral moves that violate international law. According to a statement by the Foreign Ministry spokesman, the letter claimed that Ethiopia’s positions over the past months have undermined all efforts to bring about a fair, balanced and binding solution to the dispute.