Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas called the European Union on Thursday to support Sudan's position in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) talks to expand the number of mediators in the negotiations, Sudanese State News Agency (SUNA) reported. Abbas called on the EU to convince the parties involved in the GERD talks to return to the negotiating table in a meeting in Khartoum with EU ambassador to Sudan Robert van den Dool. The Sudanese minister discussed with the ambassador the developments in the GERD talks, which reached a dead end following the collapse of the Kinshasa talks earlier this month. The decade-long dispute escalated recently between Cairo and Khartoum on the one hand, and Addis Ababa on the other. Egypt and Sudan have sent letters to the UNSC explaining the latest developments in the 10-year-old crisis and asking for a resolution that prohibits Ethiopia from taking any unilateral action before a legally binding deal is reached. Ethiopia, on the other side, has called upon members of the UNSC to urge Egypt and Sudan to return to the tripartite negotiations under the brokerage of the AU.
