Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, headed to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Wednesday morning for consultations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Shoukry was accompanied by Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati. According to a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry, Shourky and Abdel-Ati will consult with top Sudanese officials on various issues of common interest from which GERD comes on top. Egypt and Sudan have been negotiating for almost a decade now with Ethiopia to reach a legally binding and comprehensive deal on the GERD's construction, which Addis Ababa started on the Blue Nile in 2011. The latest talks of the $4.8 billion Ethiopian hydropower project — which was sponsored by the African Union (AU) and aimed to revive the already stalled negotiations since January — was held in the AU's chair country, the DR Congo, in April but failed to stir the stagnant water, with both Egypt and Sudan blaming Ethiopia's "intransigence." Meanwhile, Ethiopia intends to commence its second filling of the GERD on 22 July with or without forging a deal, a unilateral move that has been rejected by both downstream countries, describing it to be "a clear violation of international law" and "threatens regional security and peace." On Monday, Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdouk said his country will "use all the legal means" if Ethiopia goes ahead with the second filling without reaching a binding deal, a step Khartoum views as a direct threat to its interests. Two days earlier, Abdel-Ati affirmed that any action taken without reaching a fair and legally binding agreement and without coordination with the downstream countries would be "a unilateral act that is rejected". On the same day, Sudan's Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Saddiq Al-Mahdi stressed that Ethiopia's intransigence on the GERD file may drag the region into "ominous slides". Wednesday's statement added that Egypt's two ministers are scheduled to meet with Lieutenant General Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's transitional sovereign council, and Hamdouk . In addition, both will hold a session of talks with Sudan's ministers of foreign affairs and irrigation at the foreign ministry's headquarters in Khartoum, the statement said. The visit, the Egyptian foreign ministry said, comes as part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen the strategic relations that unite the two brotherly countries.
