Arab League backs calls for UN Security Council intervention in dam dispute

Arab foreign ministers on Tuesday backed calls for the UN Security Council to intervene in the contentious case of Ethiopia’s massive dam, built on one of the main tributaries of the Nile River.

The decision came during a diplomatic meeting in Qatar called by downstream Nile countries Egypt and Sudan.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a press conference that the Arab countries will press for the Security Council to hold an urgent session on the decade-long dame dispute.

The Doha meeting came after years of failed negotiations between Ethiopia, on one side, and Egypt and Sudan on the other. Egypt and Sudan have both previously called for the US, the EU and the UN to join the talks as mediators along with the African Union, which is leading efforts to reach a deal. Ethiopia has rejected the idea.

The main sticking points in past negotiations have been determining a mechanism to deal with future water disputes and how the river’s waters should be allocated during droughts.

Tuesday’s development came amid diplomatic and political pressure by Egypt and Sudan on Ethiopia ahead its planned second phase of filling the dam.

“There is a united Arab position,” Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in the same press conference following the meeting attended by 17 foreign ministers from the region. “Water security is about survival for mankind, and for the peoples of Sudan and Egypt.”

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it had sent a letter to the Security Council to explain its position. It accused Ethiopia of failing to help reach a “fair, balanced and legally binding” agreement in previous talks overseen by the African Union.

There was no immediate comment from Ethiopian leaders. Ethiopia has maintained that the dam, which it has fully financed, will help pull millions of its nearly 110 million citizens out of poverty and make the country a major power exporter.

In April, after delegations from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia failed to reach an agreement on the dam, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that “all options are open if a drop of water belonging to Egypt is touched.”