Egypt to turn to UN against Ethiopian 'unilateral step' on disputed dam
Tuesday, June 16, 2020

CAIRO, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Egypt will resort to the United Nations Security Council to prevent Ethiopia from making any unilateral step on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a statement released by Egypt's Foreign Ministry has revealed.

Ahmad Hafez, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, on Monday said in the statement that any unilateral move by Ethiopia will "negatively impact the right of Egypt in the Nile River and the international peace and security."

Egypt in the past few years attempted to reach a fair agreement to solve the GERD crisis while protecting the interests of Ethiopia and Sudan, but the recent negotiations haven't "brought any positive results," he added. Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan decided to continue virtual negotiations on Monday.

However, the tripartite negotiations were planned to end on June 13. South Africa, the United States and the European Union attended as observers in a bid to seal a deal on the controversial dam.

"The four-day negotiations demonstrated that there are many fundamental issues that Ethiopia continues to reject," the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources said in an earlier statement.

The ongoing negotiations came months after talks stalled in February during U.S.-sponsored meetings in Washington.