Sudan, Egypt FMs urge Ethiopia to change course ahead of megadam launch

Sudan’s foreign minister, Omer Siddig, met with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, in Cairo on Wednesday for high-level talks focused on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a multibillion-dollar hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile that Egypt and Sudan fear could imperil their share of the Nile’s waters.

What happened: In addition to the meeting between Siddig and Abdelatty, Sudan’s Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Esmat Qureshi, and Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sweilem, held discussions, with the two foreign ministers also in attendance. The joint meeting marked the latest session of the so-called 2+2 Consultative Mechanism between Cairo and Khartoum. 

In a joint statement following the 2+2 meeting, the two sides “reaffirmed their complete rejection of any unilateral actions in the Eastern Nile Basin that would harm their water interest.” They said Ethiopia’s unilateral operation of the dam is in violation of international law and warned it would have “serious repercussions for the downstream countries.” 

Cairo and Khartoum urged Ethiopia to change course and “restore cooperation between the basin countries.” The statement also rejected “any efforts to involve the rest of the basin countries in this controversial issue.”