Sudan announces boycott of African Union meeting on Renaissance dam

Sudan decided not to participate in the ministerial meeting on the Renaissance dam, which was scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Dr. Yasser Abbas, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, in a letter sent to Dr. Bikli Slichi, Minister of Water Resources of Ethiopia, affirmed Sudan’s position calling for giving a greater role to experts from the African Union to facilitate the negotiation and bringing the apartment closer between the three parties, and that the method followed in the negotiation during the last rounds has proven to be different Feasible.

The letter reaffirmed Sudan’s adherence to the negotiation process under the auspices of the African Union to reach a binding legal agreement satisfactory to all three parties, in accordance with the principle of African solutions to African problems.

During the previous meeting, Egypt highlighted the importance of resuming negotiations to reach as soon as possible a binding legal agreement on the filling and operation of the Renaissance dam, in implementation of the decisions of the meetings of the Bureau of the African Union at the level of summits held in recent months, and expressed his aspiration to participate in the round. The next negotiations, in order to reach a fair and balanced agreement that achieves the common interests of the three countries and preserves their water rights.

Egypt and Sudan are struggling to reach a legally binding agreement that guarantees adequate water flows and a legal mechanism to resolve disputes before the dam starts operating, but in August, Ethiopia celebrated the first phase of filling the dam and insists in completing it without an agreement.

Egypt adheres to its historic rights to the waters of the Nile River and to international decisions and laws in this regard, rejecting any unilateral action by which Addis Ababa proceeds and demanding that Ethiopia adhere to the principles of international law.