We will urge UNSC to require negotiating a binding agreement on GERD within 6 months: FM Shoukry

CAIRO-8 July 2021:  Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Egypt and Sudan called for a Security Council meeting in light of “the existential threat” to the people of both countries from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Shoukry added that he will urge the UN Security Council on calling Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to negotiate a binding agreement within six months on the issue of the Renaissance Dam.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Shoukry said Ethiopia's decision to move ahead with the second filling of the dam's reservoir violates the Declaration of Principles signed in 2015 and reflects the fact that Ethiopia is the main reason behind the failure of 10 years of negotiations over the hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile to ensure that water will continue to flow downstream in sufficient amounts to Sudan and to Egypt, where 100 million people are dependent on the river as their sole source of water.

The Security Council, during its meeting Thursday, will hear from Shoukry, Sudan’s foreign minister and Ethiopia’s water minister as well as its 15 member nations. It will be briefed by UN special envoy for the Horn of Africa Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, UN Environment Chief Inger Andersen and a diplomat from Congo, which holds the African Union presidency.

Shoukry told Extra News on Tuesday that all state agencies are in full coordination and address all the dimensions of the GERD issue as an existential cause that cannot be undermined.

He added that all state institutions have the ability, capacity, and sincere determination to defend the Egyptian right to water and to defend the Egyptian people and their capabilities, sparing no effort to achieve the interest and protection of Egyptians at the individual level.

Tunisia has prepared a draft resolution to be presented in the UNSC session and to be voted upon later.

The terms of the resolution proposed by Tunisia include:

1 – Demand that Ethiopia cease the second filling of the GERD

2 – Demand that Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia resume negotiations.

3 – Reach a binding agreement on GERD in six months.

4 – Demand that the three countries stop any measure that delays negotiations.

5 – Demand that Ethiopia stop unilateral decisions.