Irrigation Minister: Hamdouk’s Initiative Still on Table to Continue Negotiate EGRD

Khartoum,  (SUNA)       The Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Professor Yasser Abbas stressed that the initiative of Prime Minister Dr. Abdullah Hamdouk and his invitation to negotiate the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam is present to continue negotiations, reiterating that the issue of the EGRD is a national issue that does not bear any political differences or polarization.

He affirmed in briefing he gave today to the ministries’ undersecretaries that the initiative is still present and proposing that negotiations are the best way to reach understandings on the issue of the EGRD.

He added that “If the Security Council decided to hold a session to discuss the matter, Sudan is ready and prepared not only to present its position on the issue of the Renaissance Dam, but also to offer solutions that we consider balanced and fair to all parties.”

The irrigation minister explained that the declaration of principles signed between the three countries in 2015 asserted the importance of reaching an agreement before starting the filling of the Renaissance Dam, noting that any interpretation other than this is improper and inaccurate, indicating that the Sudan, has announced, from the first day of negotiations, its support for the Ethiopian decision to build the dam in accordance with the International Law, which emphasizes the fair and reasonable use, but without causing significant harm to the downstream countries.

He added that the dam has benefits for Sudan that overwhelm its disadvantages, stressing that the Sudan, along with its keenness on its rights as an original party in the negotiations, works to bring closer the points of view between Ethiopia and Egypt, and constantly provided compromising solutions that were always agreed by the two parties, stressing on the importance of reaching a binding agreement for all parties before starting the first filling, and that is for a purely technical reasons related to the safety and operation of the Rossaires Dam, which is 100 km from the Renaissance Dam, but the waters of lake of the Rossaires Dam is only 15 km from the Renaissance Dam.