Egypt asks the United Nations to support the call for a binding agreement on the Ethiopia dam

On Wednesday, Egypt's Foreign Minister indicated that he would approach the United Nations Security Council to request that Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia negotiate a binding solution on this contentious topic within six months.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Sameh Shoukry stated that ten years of discussions over the Blue Nile hydroelectric dam had failed to assure a sufficient flow of water downstream to Sudan and Egypt, where 100 million people rely on the dam and the river as their only supply of water.

Shoukry stated that Egypt and Sudan have requested a Security Council meeting in light of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam's "existential threat" to the peoples of the two countries, as well as Ethiopia's decision to begin filling the dam's reservoir for the second time, which he claims violates the 2015 agreement.

In addition to the 15 member states, the Security Council met on Thursday and heard from the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ethiopia's Minister of Water, as well as a briefing from the UN Special Envoy for the Republic of Sudan and the Horn of Africa on the death of the UN Environment Coordinator.