Sudanese Minister of Irrigation Yasser Abbas said, on Wednesday, that guarantors must participate in the negotiations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). He also reiterated his country's refusal to including Nile water sharing in the GERD negotiations. Moreover, Sudan has requested access to all environmental and safety studies of the dam. Earlier, Abbas said that the Ethiopian decision to start filling the Ethiopian dam for the second year in a row constitutes a threat to Sudan. He noted that the information provided by Ethiopia regarding the second filling is of little value now after it imposed a fait accompli on the Roseires Dam in South Sudan. He added that Sudan took many measures to reduce the expected negative economic and social impact of the second filling of the GERD. This situation violates Article 7 of the UN Watercourse Convention, "Obligation Not to Cause Significant Harm", Abbas stressed, noting that Sudanese measures to limit damages of the second filling had a heavy economic and social cost. Moreover, US State Department spokesperson Samuel Warburg stressed that the Nile waters are important to Egypt and Sudan, and the Security Council believes that the African Union is the most appropriate institution to deal with the dam crisis, and the US sees the need for a solution between the three countries in the dam crisis. Warburg said during his meeting that the US is ready to provide assistance in order to restore the course of negotiations, and that his country supports the continuation of negotiations between the three countries to resolve the crisis, and that an agreement must be reached between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Warburg added that the US will continue the dialogue with the three countries in order to continue the negotiations, because the Ethiopian dam crisis is important and must be resolved, and America is ready to provide assistance in order to restore the path of negotiations. He added that America supports the continuation of negotiations between the three countries to resolve the crisis, and an agreement must be reached between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to resolve the dam crisis, explaining that the United States will continue dialogue with the three countries in order to continue negotiations, and America believes that the Ethiopian dam crisis is important and must be resolved.
