Sudan announced Saturday it has turned down its participation in the Saturday ministerial meeting on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The announcement came in a message sent by the Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Yasser Abbas, to his Ethiopian counterpart Seleshi Bekele. Last Thursday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati participated in the Six-Party Meeting of Foreign Ministers and Water Ministers in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose country holds the current presidency of the AU, to discuss the course of the ongoing GERD negotiations under African auspices. Egypt has blamed Ethiopia for the failure of the talks, saying Addis Ababa is showing no flexibility on the issue, and trying to avoid binding agreement.

Source: Egypt Independent November 22, 2020 09:45 UTC