'Ethiopia must abide by downstream countries' right and not harm them': Abul Gheit

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Mon, 21 Jun 2021 - 10:57 GMT

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Mon, 21 Jun 2021 - 10:57 GMT

FILE PHOTO: The Blue Nile flows into Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam in Guba Woreda- Reuters

FILE PHOTO: The Blue Nile flows into Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam in Guba Woreda- Reuters

CAIRO - 21 June 2020: Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Abul Gheit unveiled that recent Doha meeting discussed important points topped by the issue of Egypt's and Sudan's water security which is one of the Arab national security issues.

Speaking to Sada El Balad TV channel, he revealed that the Arab League called on the Security Council to hold a session to discuss the dam issue.

He stressed that the pan-Arab body always exerts efforts to follow up the developments in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue and formed a committee to settle this crisis.

It is urgently necessary that member states of the Security Council should submit requests to hold a session to solve this issue, he said. 

Abul Gheit pointed out Ethiopia suffers from internal problems and many ethnic disputes, stressing the Ethiopian government is seeking to come into clash with the international community to cover its internal dilemmas.

There are European stances against Ethiopia and the US announced suspension of its economic aid to Ethiopia, the Arab League chief noted.

The GERD issue needs an effective role by the African and European Unions, Abul Gheit said, underlining that the international community would not accept the destabilization of the Horn of Africa region.

"Patience in such kind of negotiations is important and achieves the goal ... a solution should be reached to this issue with the engagement of international parties," he said, warning that any alternative would threaten the international security and stability in this region.

"We cannot accept the killing of the Sudanese people under the pretext of development in Ethiopia," he affirmed.

Abul Gheit highlighted that former Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi signed an agreement with Egypt stressing his country's commitment to respecting water-related treaty inked between Ethiopia and Great Britain, which was then in charge of protecting the interests of Egypt and Sudan. However, Zenawi disavowed this treaty later.

The international community can announce its stance on the GERD issue, Abul Gheit said, underscoring the recent significant step taken by the United States Central Command to intervene to solve this issue.

Such a step taken by Washington for the first time conveys a message that the US will respond to take action, if necessary, to settle this crisis.

Abul Gheit warned that any unilateral decisions taken by Ethiopia will have serious consequences, emphasizing the need to reach a satisfactory agreement accepted by the three parties.

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