Sudan, Egypt Called to Nurture Nile Dam 'Narrative Towards Peace'

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called on Sudan and Egypt "to nurture the narrative towards building peace, cooperation, mutual co-existence and development of all our people without harming one another."

In a letter, PM Abiy has said Ethiopia has an ambition to build a modern economy based on agriculture, manufacturing and industry. It is committed to developing social infrastructure with quality education, health systems and the provision of clean water for its people.

He further said, Ethiopia also aims to nurture a clean environment able to sequester carbon and emit net zero carbon; to maintain biological diversity and to build a resilient ecosystem that is not exposed to climate vulnerabilities.

Abiy reaffirmed that "Ethiopia's intention in constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is to enable the regulation function so that electricity generation from the infrastructure is uniform throughout the year. This means, as a hydropower dam, the GERD does not consume water. Rather the water continues to flow downstream uninterrupted", reports Addis Standard.

The three countries have been at loggerheads for a while, beginning with how Ethiopia's GERD on the Blue Nile, was to be filled. This was followed by a disagreement over an unmarked border line in al-Fashaqa, with Khartoum claiming that Ethiopia invaded its territory. Khartoum is now accusing Addis Ababa of arming rebels in its territory.