Back Off: Sudan Rejects Ethiopia’s Proposal To Sign Nile Mega-dam Agreement
By Elite Reporter
Sudan
has rejected an Ethiopian proposal to sign an initial agreement greenlighting
the filling of a controversial mega-dam, calling its neighbour to resume the
stalled United States-brokered negotiations on the issue.
On
Tuesday, Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said he refused to sign a
"partial agreement" for the dam's filling due to the absence of
coordinated planning and outstanding "technical and legal issues"
dealing with the dam's "environmental and social impacts".
Sudan
and Egypt fear the disputed $4.6bn dam on the Nile will trap their essential
water supplies once it starts being filled in July as planned by Ethiopia.
In
a letter to his Ethiopian counterpart, Hamdok also stressed the need to reach
an agreement among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia b...