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UAE steps in to ease Nile dam crisis

Sudanese reports recently revealed that the United Arab Emirates is seeking an initiative to bring the views of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia closer so as to break the deadlock in the negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
A general view shows Egypt's High Dam in Aswan, some 920 kilometres south of the capital Cairo, on January 3, 2021. - Half a century since Egypt's Aswan dam was inaugurated to much fanfare, harnessing the Nile for hydropower and irrigation, the giant barrier is still criticised its human and environmental toll. But it is also a stark reminder -- amid high tensions today as Addis Ababa fills its collosal Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) upstream, Africa's largest -- of just how volatile politics over t

CAIRO — The Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported Jan. 13 that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is seeking an initiative and mediation to converge the views of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia with the aim to break the deadlock in the negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

According to SUNA, an Emirati Foreign Ministry delegation visited Khartoum Jan. 12 where it met with officials from the Sudanese ministries of foreign affairs, and irrigation and water resources. The Sudanese officials briefed the Emirati delegation about Sudan’s position in the GERD dossier. A well-informed source cited by SUNA said the Emirati initiative did not come upon a Sudanese request.

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