Africa-Press-Ethiopia:<\/p>\n
Sudan’s military on Friday said it would hold war games with Egypt next week, the latest in a series of joint operations by the two allies that coincide with rising tension with Ethiopia over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.<\/p>\n
A brief statement by the Sudanese armed forces on Friday said the May 26-31 war games will involve units from all branches of the military.<\/p>\n
Participating Egyptian forces, it added, have already arrived by air and sea for the joint exercises, codenamed \u201cProtectors of the Nile”.<\/p>\n
Aerial war games held earlier this year between the two nations were code-named \u201cNile Eagles”.<\/p>\n
The war games will take place as Ethiopia says it will go ahead with a second, much larger dam regardless of whether an agreement is reached with downstream Egypt and Sudan on the operation and filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.<\/p>\n
Both Egypt and Sudan, which have forged close military ties in recent months, have warned Addis Ababa against taking unilateral action, with Khartoum arguing that, if not co-ordinated, the filling of the dam could put the lives of 20 million Sudanese, roughly half its population, at risk.<\/p>\n
Sudan is also locked in a long-simmering border dispute with Ethiopia.<\/p>\n
The dispute led to a series of deadly clashes when Sudanese troops moved late last year to wrest back control of a border enclave long settled by Ethiopian farmers and protected by loyal militiamen and federal troops.<\/p>\n
It is an existential issue to Egypt, which will not accept any harm to come to its water interests.<\/p>\n
Abdel Fatah El Sisi<\/p>\n
Ethiopia has called on Sudan to pull back its troops and accused its military of stoking the border dispute for the benefit of a third party, a thinly veiled reference to Egypt. Cairo has repeatedly vowed to come to Sudan\u2019s aid to \u201csafeguard its territorial integrity”.<\/p>\n
Egypt is worried the dam could significantly reduce its share of Nile River water, which provides more than 90 per cent of its fresh-water needs. It says such a reduction would wipe out hundreds of thousands of jobs and disrupt the delicate food balance for its 100 million people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an existential issue to Egypt, which will not accept any harm to come to its water interests,\u201d Egypt\u2019s leader, Abdel Fatah El Sisi, told a senior US envoy in Cairo earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Egypt and Sudan have for a decade been negotiating with Ethiopia over the dam but have failed to persuade it to enter a legally binding deal governing the operation of the dam as well as mechanisms for dealing with persistent drought or future disputes.<\/p>\n
Ethiopia insists that guidelines should be sufficient. It has also rejected proposals made by Egypt and Sudan for a quartet comprising the US, EU, UN and African Union to mediate the dispute.<\/p>\n
The dam, built less than 20 kilometres from the border with Sudan, is expected to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity upon completion.<\/p>\n
Ethiopia says the dam, which is 80 per cent complete, will lift millions of its people out of poverty and will be key to its future development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa-Press-Ethiopia: Sudan’s military on Friday said it would hold war games with Egypt next week, the latest in a series of joint operations by the two allies that coincide with rising tension with Ethiopia over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. A brief statement by the Sudanese armed forces on Friday said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[241,336,262],"class_list":["post-5023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press-ethiopia","tag-el-sisi","tag-sudan"],"yoast_head":"\n