Arab League disturbed by Ethiopia’s letter to the Security Council
On Tuesday, an official source in the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States expressed the League’s discomfort over what was stated in Ethiopia’s last letter to the Security Council on 5 July. The country rejects the authority’s interference in the GERD issue, claiming that this may undermine the friendly and cooperative relations between the League and the Union African.
The source stressed: “Ethiopia’s message contained many inaccuracies, but the most dangerous thing in it is the clear attempt to drive a wedge between two regional organizations that have always maintained, in the past and the present, the closest and most solid relations.”
He said that the Arab League is not about to engage in any form of strife or confrontation with the African Union, especially since it includes ten Arab countries that are also members.
“The League maintains various frameworks and mechanisms for consultation and joint action with the African Union. It is keen to coordinate positions with it on many issues, as well as the excellent friendly relationship that binds the Secretary-General of the Arab League to Moussa Faki, the Chairperson of the Union’s Commission,” he pointed out.
The source concluded that the League’s intervention in the matter of the Renaissance Dam, which is based on decisions issued by the League Council, is a natural and logical matter, considering that the issue affects the interests of two of its members, Egypt and Sudan. The two countries demand a comprehensive and binding agreement to fill and operate the GERD reservoir, which is the subject of Arab consensus.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia denounced what it considered the “interference” of the Arab League in the dispute between Egypt and Sudan over the Renaissance Dam on the Nile River, two days before an upcoming meeting of the UN Security Council.
“We reject the unacceptable interference of the Arab League in the issue of the GERD after the League submitted a request to the UN Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly to intervene in this issue,” the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Tensions escalated after Addis Ababa announced that it had started the second filling of the dam’s reservoir, which angered the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
