Ethiopia rejects Arab League resolution on Renaissance Dam

Addis Ababa slams bloc calling on UN Security Council to intervene in Ethiopia’s dispute with Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia has rejected an Arab League resolution calling on the United Nations Security Council to intervene in a lingering dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over a massive dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile, the Nile River’s main tributary. Foreign ministers of the 22-member bloc met in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday in the latest effort by Cairo and Khartoum to reach an agreement on the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the dam. Egypt relies on the river for as much as 90 percent of its freshwater and sees the new dam as an existential threat. Sudan is concerned about the operation of its own Nile dams and water stations.