Egypt rejects Ethiopia's latest proposal on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which has been presented by the Ethiopian irrigation minister to his Egyptian and Sudanese counterparts, the Egyptian irrigation ministry announced. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Irrigation announced that Egypt sent a letter to South Africa, the current chair of the African Union, reasserting the downstream countries' rejection of Ethiopia's initial filling of the GERD on 22 July 2020. The Egyptian letter also expressed Egypt's rejection of the Ethiopian proposal presented on Tuesday because it included a suggestion violating the directive issued by the AU office on 21 July 2020, which stipulates the necessity of reaching a legally binding agreement. Sudan has already rejected the proposal in a letter sent to the Africa Union chair on Tuesday, saying that Ethiopia violated the Declaration of Principles signed between by the three countries in 2015. In the letter sent to the AU, Khartoum said that it may not continue with the talks if Ethiopia insists on its position. Ethiopia announced on Tuesday that it had presented to Egypt and Sudan a version of what it called guidelines and rules for the mega-dam, and that both countries had requested to adjourn the talks to consider the Ethiopian proposal. Both Egypt and Sudan slammed the Ethiopian statement on Tuesday. The Egyptian irrigation ministry said that the draft of the guidelines and rules did not include any rules for operating the dam nor any element that indicates that the agreement is legal binding, and that it lacked legal mechanism to settle disputes.
