Sudan asks UNSC to hold emergency session on Ethiopia dam

Sudan has asked the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency session to discuss the dispute over Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, the official Sudanese News Agency (SNA) reported.

Foreign Minister, Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, called on the Security Council to urge Ethiopia to stop the “unilateral” filling of the dam “which exacerbates the dispute and poses a threat to regional and international peace and security”.

In a letter to the council, the diplomat called for support, mediation or “any other appropriate peaceful means” to resolve the conflict.

She also asked the UN, the African Union (AU), and other international and regional organisations to assist in the negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

On 15 June, the foreign ministers of the Arab League member states held an extraordinary meeting in Doha, and called on the Security Council to intervene and help resolve the dispute between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over GERD.

Ethiopia insists on moving forward with the second filling of the dam’s reservoir, despite protests from Egypt and Sudan, which fear the dam will negatively affect their share of the Nile’s water.

READ: EU urges Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to discuss solutions to Nile dam crisis