KT
Sudan said earlier this week that its foreign minister Mariam Almahdi bagin an African tour to clarify Khartoum’s stance on the ongoing dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
According to an official statement, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi began the tour with a visit to Kenya Ramada, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to stress Sudan’s support to the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) in meditation efforts over the dam in order to reach a fair and satisfactory solution to all parties.
She supposed to meet with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, the current chair of the AU, in Kinshasa to affirm Sudan’s keeness on reaching a legally binding deal on the filling and operation of the dam in accordance with the principles of international law.
“We arrived to the Republic of Rwanda today and met President Paul Kagame. We briefed him on the GERD negotiations and the efforts shown by Sudan to reach a binding agreement acceptable for all parties. He expressed a deep understanding of Sudan’s equitable position on the GERD.” said Almahdi following her meeting with Rwanda’ President
The Sudanese foreign minister’s tour follows a similar tour by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who visited the DRC, Kenya, Comoros, South Africa, Senegal, and Tunisia for clarifications on the continued deadlock in talks over the dam.
Regarding the current talks she said Sudan believes that GERD could be a mean of regional development and cooperation. It will benefit all countries of the Eastern Nile Basin and people of the region. But it is vital to reach a binding agreement that addresses the interests and concerns of the three countries.
The Sudanese foreign minister’s tour comes a few weeks after the AU-sponsored Kinshasa-hosted talks, which were held earlier this month between the three countries – Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia – failed to reach an agreement on re-launching the deadlocked negotiations.
