July 23, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese Prime Minister, Abdallah Hamdok, formed a higher committee to follow- up the ongoing negotiations on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) under his chairmanship and the membership of some ministers.

According to a decision issued on Thursday, the committee includes the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Omer Monis, the Minister of Justice, Nasr al-Din Abdel-Bari, the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Yasir Abbas, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge, Omer Gamar Al-Din, the Director of the General Intelligence Service, Jamal Abdel-Majid, and the Director of the Military. Intelligence.

The inter-ministerial committee is entrusted with the follow-up of negotiations on the GERD to enhance Sudan’s strategic interests, support and help the negotiating committee to perform its duties.

The committee has the right to form working teams to assist in carrying out its work.

Hamdok formed several higher committees in different fields and involved members of the Sovereign Council. This time, they are not involved in this very technical committee.

The formation of the committee comes after an agreement on last Tuesday reached by the three riparian countries, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to continue talks with the hope to reach a deal soon.

The dispute between the three countries over the legal nature of the agreement. Ethiopia refuses to sign a legally binding agreement and spokes about guidelines saying that it would affect its future projects on the Blue Nile.

(ST)