Sudan warns of legal action against Ethiopia over dam

Sudan warns of legal action against Ethiopia over dam

KHARTOUM: Sudan has warned it could take legal action against Ethiopia if it goes ahead with plans to fill a mega-dam on the Blue Nile without a deal with Khartoum and Cairo. Water Minister Yasser Abbas also said in a tweet that Ethiopia has raised "objections" to an invitation by Sudan to attend three-way talks to discuss the controversial dam. Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia have been locked in inconclusive talks for nearly a decade over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which broke ground in 2011. Cairo has regarded the dam as an existential threat to its water supplies, while Khartoum fears its own dams would be harmed if Ethiopia fills the reservoir without a deal. Last week, Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok invited his Egyptian and Ethiopian counterparts to a closed meeting after recent African Union-sponsored negotiations failed to produce a deal. "Ethiopia has objected to the invitation of Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok for a three-way summit and we see that there is no justification for that," Abbas tweeted. Addis Ababa announced last July that it had filled part of the barrage with a second stage due to take place this coming July,