Ethiopia, Sudan announce united positions towards external threats

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir announced on Tuesday “full integration and united positions towards external threats,” Anadolu reported.

In a joint press conference, after meetings in the Ethiopian capital, Al-Bashir said that “any threat to Sudan would also be a threat to Ethiopia’s national security.”

“We are working together with a shared vision for the region based on cooperation on security, military, economic and political issues,” he added.

The Ethiopian prime minister spoke of a new era of “integration” with Sudan. “We have common agreement about all issues and we will work to achieve stability and solutions to the conflicts in the region,” he said.

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Desalegn and Al-Bashir initially held a closed meeting in Addis Ababa and the session expanded to include delegations from the two countries.

On the question of water rights in the Nile Basin, Al-Bashir reiterated that countries of the region have equal rights to share and access the waters of the River Nile. “We are agreed upon the construction of the Renaissance Dam which will supply Ethiopia and Sudan with electricity,” he added.

Egypt have raised objections to the building of the Renaissance Dam which it says would negatively affect its portion of the Nile water which is about 55.5 billion cubic metres. It accuses Sudan of aligning with Ethiopia on this issue against Egypt, but Sudan denies this.

Sudan says that the new dam would not affect Egypt’s water supply, but would provide much needed electricity to boost development in Ethiopia and Sudan and strengthen relations with other countries in the region.