Ethiopia: Security Council to consider Renaissance barrage

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Talks between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt on the Renaissance Dam are stalled. The United Nations is now seized of the matter since Egypt, supported by Washington, has done everything for the Security Council to open a public debate on the Ethiopian project. And Cairo ended up winning.

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At the end of a week of intense diplomatic brawl , the French presidency of the Security Council finally decided this Thursday and will look into the tensions around the Renaissance dam. Sudan and Egypt will have to present their arguments by video conference next Monday, Ethiopia will then have the opportunity to respond, and the Council will need to adopt not a resolution but a common position.

All week, Egypt has done everything to push the Council and the French Presidency to decide on the issue. Without directly supporting the Cairo initiative, Sudan has recognized the benefit that the dam could bring, but denounced the "  risk for millions of Sudanese  " if Ethiopia implemented its plan to start, without agreement with neighbors , filling the tank next month, as the rainy season begins. Ethiopia for its part refuted the dramatization of the question, believing that the filling would only marginally affect the flow of the Nile.

Towards more involvement of the African Union

It will not be easy for the Security Council to reach a consensus since at this stage it is already not unanimous. Washington and its veto, whose mediation failed last February, is now clearly on the side of Egypt against Ethiopia. But Niger and South Africa, non-permanent members, supported by China, believe on the contrary that the question has nothing to do in New York, and plead to let the African Union play a more important role.

Moreover, this is also the opinion of the AU acting president, the South African Cyril Ramaphosa, if we are to believe the Ethiopian weekly Addis Standard . An extraordinary virtual summit is expected to be held this afternoon under his chairmanship, the newspaper said, with the Egyptian president, the Sudanese and Ethiopian prime ministers, and three observer countries that are Kenya, the DRC and Mali.

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• Ethiopia
• Egypt
• Sudan
• United States
• UN
• African Union

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