KHARTOUM, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Sunday called on African countries to support the efforts in reaching comprehensive and satisfactory solutions to all parties regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Sudan's Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi on Sunday held a virtual meeting with Ambassadors of African Union (AU) Member States accredited to Sudan, said Sudan's foreign ministry in a statement.
The Sudanese minister briefed the African diplomats on the outcome of the Nile dam talks recently held in Kinshasa, reiterating Sudan's firm position on the necessity of reaching a binding agreement before Ethiopia proceeds with the 2nd filling of the GERD, It noted.
She said that Sudan was looking forward towards African countries' support to reach comprehensive and satisfactory solutions to all parties.
Meanwhile, Sudan's Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Yasir Abbas reviewed the technical measures of the proposals presented during the talks.
He referred to Sudan's proposal to expand the AU mediation to include the United Nations, the European Union and the United States, stressing the importance that there be a political will to achieve the aspired gains of the GERD for the three parties.
During April 3-5, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the current chair of the AU, hosted the latest round of talks over the GERD with the participation of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.
Sudan proposed a mediation quartet of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and the African Union. Ethiopia, however, has announced its rejection to this formula.
In February, Ethiopia said it would carry on with the second-phase 13.5-billion-cubic-meter filling of the GERD in June. The volume of the first-phase filling last year was 4.9 billion cubic meters.
Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have been in talks for years over the technical and legal issues related to the filling and operation of the GERD.
Ethiopia, which started building the GERD in 2011, expects to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity from the dam project, while Egypt and Sudan, downstream Nile Basin countries that rely on the river for its freshwater, are concerned that the dam might affect their share of the water resources. Enditem
