Ethiopia 'Ready' for GERD Talks: Ethiopian Foreign Ministry

Ahram Online 

Thursday 14 Oct 2021

Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesperson Dina Mufti said on Thursday that Ethiopia is ready to resume talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In statements to Sky News Arabia, Mufti said that Ethiopia expects the current chair of the African Union, DR Congo, to send delegations soon to Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to hold talks on the GERD issue. 

In September, the United Security Council issued a presidential statement calling on the three countries to resume the GERD talks as soon as possible according to a specific timeframe to reach to a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam under the auspices of the African Union.

Egypt and Sudan welcomed the statement but Ethiopia slammed it at the time.

The talks between the three countries reached a deadlock in April after a failed round in Kinshasa, followed by Addis Abba's unilateral decision to commence with the second filing of the dam despite the rejection and warning of the downstream countries.