Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Yasser Abbas, on Friday, warned his government would take legal action against Ethiopia if it continues with plans to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile river without first reaching a deal, reported Reuters.
“Failure to reach an agreement paves the way for raising a complaint to the Security Council, considering that the GERD poses a real threat to regional peace and security,” the Sudanese minister tweeted on Friday.
Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan have been locked in inconclusive talks for nearly a decade over the filling and operation of the massive dam.
In another tweet, Abbas said Ethiopia had rejected an invitation for a three-way summit to discuss stalled negotiations over the GERD and threatened to go to international arbitration to resolve their differences.
Notably, the latest round of negotiation talks led by the African Union in Kinshasa failed earlier this month, after which Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok invited his Ethiopian and Egyptian counterparts to Khartoum for a summit. He had given them until Friday to attend.
Abbas said Ethiopia had already said a no to a Sudanese proposal to use EU, U.S., and UN mediators led by the African Union.
Ethiopia is seeking to continue with the second phase of filling the dam during the upcoming rainy season, But Sudan and Egypt want a binding legal agreement before the dam’s second filling.
The Sudanese minister Abbas warned that if Ethiopia goes ahead with the filling, Sudan would file lawsuits against the Italian company constructing the dam and the Ethiopian government.
He said considering the fact that the environmental and social impacts and accompanying risks of the GERD have not been studied, there are various options that are being considered, including reaching with the International Court of Justice, the Human Rights Commissions, and the COMESA Court.
