Ethiopia Turns Down UNSC Involvement on GERD

Ethiopia has rejected the latest attempts by Egypt and Sudan seeking the involvement of the United Nations Security Council over the GERD issue outside of its mandate.

On June 23, Ethiopia sent a letter to the president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) stating that the recent action of Egypt and Sudan is a continuation of their intent to undermine the AU-led process and eventually declare it ineffective.

The letter points out that since the commencement of the AU-led negotiation over the GERD, both of the lower riparian countries have disrupted the process nine times undermining the genuine efforts of the union and blocking a productive discussion.

Both countries have tried to stifle the AU-led process by injecting unrelated issues in the negotiations, by unnecessarily securitising and internationalising the matter, and dragging the Arab league into the situation to further complicate the issue, the letter stated.

Undermining all the genuine, sincere, and encouraging efforts of President Tshisekedi of DRC and his proposal for a phased approach for the GERD talks and the filling of the dam, the letter said Egypt and Sudan have continued to squander the President’s efforts and unduly prolong the process.

“…The second-year filling of the GERD will be administered in the coming rainy season starting July following the stage-based schedule and rules on which understanding has been reached in the trilateral process.”

The second-year filling of the GERD is set to commence in July following the stage-based schedule and rules on which understanding has been reached in the trilateral process.

The letter to the UNSC concluded with Ethiopia’s stand over the tripartite negotiations by calling on the Security Council to encourage Egypt and Sudan to sustain the negotiations under the mediatorial aegis of the African Union.