Sudan Seeks Cooperation With African States, Ready To Address Disputes - Council

Sudan Seeks Cooperation With African States, Ready to Address Disputes - Council

Sudan is looking forward to economic cooperation with its neighboring African countries, Yasser Atta, a member of Sudan's Sovereignty Council, told Sputnik in an interview, adding that any disagreements between them may be solved through political dialogue

KHARTOUM (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) Sudan is looking forward to economic cooperation with its neighboring African countries, Yasser Atta, a member of Sudan's Sovereignty Council, told Sputnik in an interview, adding that any disagreements between them may be solved through political dialogue.

"We want to be part of a conglomerate, represented by major economic partnerships, with our neighbors: Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Chad. We are not looking for wars," Atta said.

The country's Armed Forces are able to protect their lands, and if any differences in the views take place between the countries, "they can be solved in a diplomatic way or through general political dialogue," according to the council member.

Sudan and Egypt currently have tense relations with Ethiopia over disputes on the operation of Addis Ababa's Grand Renaissance Dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile river and set to become Africa's largest, but Cairo and Khartoum fear its effects on their own water security.

The three countries have held dozens of rounds of talks but have failed to agree on how soon the dam should be filled, while Addis Ababa sees this project as crucial for economic growth. Egypt has asked the UN Security Council to intervene in the talks to prevent any unilateral steps by Ethiopia.

On Wednesday, Ethiopia's EBC broadcaster published an inaccurate report, which the channel eventually apologized for, that said that the country had started to fill up the dam's reservoir with water.