obtained on Wednesday the full text of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The Egyptian-Sudanese draft resolution that was submitted on Friday by Tunisia, the only Arab member of the 10 elected and non-permanent members of the UNSC, has called on Ethiopia to cease its second-year filling the GERD, which Addis Ababa has been building on the Blue Nile since 2011. Below is the full text: The Security Council, Bearing in mindthe purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security, and recalling the Council's previous relevant resolutions and presidential statements on preventive diplomacy, mediation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, Recalling the Agreement on Declaration of Principles on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, concluded between Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Sudan on 23 March 2015, Taking note of the negotiations that were undertaken on the question of the GERD under the auspices of the African Union, 1. Requests Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Sudan to resume negotiations at the joint invitation of the Chairperson of the African Union and the Secretary-General of the United Nations to finalize, within a period of six months, the text of a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD that ensures Ethiopia's ability to generate hydropower from the GERD while preventing the inflicting of significant harm on the water security of downstream states, 2. Encourages the parties that have been invited to attend the A.U.-led negotiations as observes, and any other parties that Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Sudan may decide to invite, to continue to actively engage in the negotiations with a view to addressing outstanding technical and legal issues, 3. Calls upon the three countries to refrain from making any statements, or taking any action that may jeopardize the negotiation process, and urges Ethiopia to refrain from continuing to unilaterally fill the GERD reservoir, 4. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council on the implementation of this resolution, 5. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.
