Sudan’s Foreign Minister Rejects Interventions Seeking to Impose Their Agenda

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Al-Sadiq confirmed that there are some external interventions regarding the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that want to impose an agenda on Khartoum that his country rejects. In statements to the Bahraini newspaper Al-Watan, he said: “Unfortunately, there are now some outside interferences that want to impose a certain agenda on us, and we are imposing on it, and this issue is completely unacceptable.” Al-Sadiq continued by noting that “the question of the Renaissance Dam is supposed to be settled between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and there is joint and continuous coordination between the three countries in this regard.” He pointed out that “about 4 rounds of informal talks between the three countries over the crisis of the Renaissance dam took place in the UAE, but they did not achieve any significant progress, especially in light of the insistence of the mediators on the introduction of the so-called “water divide”. ”, especially since Egypt and Sudan have a clear position, they are against the division of water, and therefore it is clear that if the mediators insist on imposing the issue of the division of water, we will not come to an agreement. And Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Al-Sadiq added: “Therefore, we in Sudan see that the only way to solve the problem of the Renaissance Dam is through negotiations between the three countries.” He explained: “There are two levels of negotiations between the three countries, and there is a technical level, and those who deal with this level only talk about the technical aspects, such as the safety of the dam and water, and the consequences for the transit and downstream countries. and they have nothing to do with political work and political issues.” He continued: “There is a political, ministerial and legal level, represented by committees, and those who deal with this issue talk about political and legal aspects, and therefore I believe that if this issue were left to her discretion, an agreement would be reached. . achieved at the Renaissance dam. Despite the signing of an agreement of principles between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in 2015, which defines dialogue and negotiations as the mechanisms to resolve all issues related to the dam between the three countries, successive rounds of negotiations have not resulted in an agreement between the three countries. about the mechanism of water storage behind the dam and the mechanism of its operation. Ethiopia has completed two stages of filling the dam in 2020 and 2021 and has already begun the third filling process during the flood season that began in July last year. The failure to reach an agreement between the three countries led to increased political tension between them and the referral of the case to the Security Council, which held two meetings on the issue without taking a decision on it.