Sudan has called for controversial issues in the Ethiopian dam negotiations to be referred to the prime ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, indicating that an impasse has been reached in this latest round of talks. Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said on Wednesday that the matter should be referred to the three countries' prime ministers so a consensus can be reached and to achieve the political will to allow the negotiations to resume as soon as possible. Earlier this week, the Sudanese irrigation minister had said that if the three nations failed to reach an agreement, the matter would be referred to their prime ministers. The Sudanese minister's statement on Wednesday came during a press conference held following the last meeting of the week-long tripartite negotiations that were brokered by Sudan and which had South Africa, the US and the EU attending as observers. The latest round of trilateral negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, headed by the irrigation ministers of the three countries, was held today and was preceded by technical and legal committee meetings to reach satisfactory and fair solutions on contentious issues, a statement by the Sudanese irrigation ministry said. "Despite the significant progress that has been achieved in the technical aspects related to the filling and operation of the Renaissance Dam, the differences in the legal aspects revealed real conceptual differences between the three parties on a number of issues," Minister Abbas. More to follow...