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Ahram Online
Egypt has welcomed a statement issued on Wednesday by the UN Security Council calling to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
“The UNSC has urged observers of previous GERD negotiations under the African Union’s sponsorship, and any other observers to be involved in future dam talks, to continue supporting the negotiation track with a view to reaching a compromise on any outstanding issues, including the technical and legal aspects”, a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Egypt has received a vision and plan from the DR Congo, the current chair of the African Union (AU), on the resumption of the AU-sponsored talks on the GERD in the coming period”, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry told press conference held in Cairo with Christophe Lutundula, the DR Congo’s Foreign Minister and deputy Prime Minister on Thursday.
Lutundula embarked on an official visit to Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt this week to discuss arrangements for the resumption of the GERD talks.
Shoukry affirmed Egypt’s “full readiness and flexibility to study the proposals introduced in the Congolese plan and provide feedback to the DR Congo’s presidency, which will definitely contribute positively to launching the negotiations process again”.
“The UNSC’s statement has provided important and much needed international support that enables the AU’s chair to fulfil their duties as a mediator in the GERD negotiations. This support should also help apply the principle of an ‘African Solutions to African Problems’ and enhance the role of the AU’s chairmanship by giving them the chance to resort to international observers agreed upon by the three states”, Shoukry added.
The Congolese FM confirmed; “the three countries are in agreement on the need to resolve African differences within an African framework through African solutions”.
“In a meeting on Wednesday, Lutundula also handed Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, a similar document on the GERD prepared by a team of joint experts from the Congolese presidency and the AU Commission”, Sudan’s news agency SUNA reported.
The document contains a brief of the points of agreement and disagreement among Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia on the dam issue for experts to study them and work on bringing the three countries’ views closer in a bid to help them reach an acceptable deal.
