GERD crisis: Ethiopia wants upstream countries to form front against Egypt and Sudan

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Addis Ababa criticised, on Wednesday, the Egyptian-Sudanese demand to the UN Security Council to discuss the crisis of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Ethiopia considered the step an unnecessary internationalisation and securitisation of the problem.

The statement issued by the Ethiopian foreign ministry called on the Nile basin states to unite against the downstream countries, which undermines the role of the African Union, according to the Ethiopian statement.

In the same vein, the Ethiopian deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen met ambassadors and diplomats from the Nile basin state to update them on the conflict. Mekonnen said that the Renaissance Dam is so that the upstream countries can benefit from the Nile without causing damage to the downstream countries, despite Egypt and Sudan’s recent steps to solve the continent’s conflicts through the African Union.

The ambassadors and diplomats of upstream countries expressed appreciation of the Ethiopian step to update them as the main stakeholders, asserting that the African Union is the organisation that should be assigned to solve the conflict.