Conversations > International law

The conversation on International Law captures the speakers' statements on the principles of international law and their application to the GERD.

Concepts / speakers

Toggle the following button to highlight in the text the concepts occurrences in the verbatim:

Ten most cited concepts

international law
nile river basin
harm
rights
declaration of principles
legal obligations
benefits
unilateralism
development
cooperation

Speakers

Egypt
Ethiopia
Sudan

Verbatims

meeting01/05/2020 - 30/06/2020
Round of tripartite meetings between Water Affairs Ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to discuss the rules on the filling and operation of the GERD

01/05/2020 letter to Security Council

Egypt,accusatory
The unilateral filling of the dam, before agreeing with downstream States on the rules governing both the filling and operation of this dam, is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation between co-riparians that share an international watercourse and amounts to a material breach of Ethiopia’s international legal obligations.
Egypt,accusatory
Ethiopia’s announcement of its intention to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam without an agreement is consistent with its policy of unilateralism that it has adopted since it commenced the construction of the dam in 2011 without notifying or consulting with its downstream co-riparians in violation of its obligations under international law.
Egypt,boastful
Egypt has repeatedly affirmed its wholehearted support of Ethiopia’s right to development, including by harnessing the benefits of the Blue Nile. However, this must be undertaken in a cooperative manner and in accordance with the applicable principles of international law.
meeting01/05/2020 - 30/06/2020
Round of tripartite meetings between Water Affairs Ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to discuss the rules on the filling and operation of the GERD

14/05/2020 letter to Security Council

Ethiopia,boastful
Ethiopia does not have a legal obligation to seek approval of Egypt to fill the Dam. Furthermore, the impoundment of 18.4 billion cubic meters of water in two rounds causes no significant harm on Egypt. Therefore, Ethiopia is in full compliance with the DoP and made a remarkable and generous gesture in offering an agreement to Egypt.
meeting01/05/2020 - 30/06/2020
Round of tripartite meetings between Water Affairs Ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to discuss the rules on the filling and operation of the GERD
other19/05/2020
UN Secretary-General releases a statement on the GERD
Statement from UN Secretary-General
meeting19/05/2020 - 05/06/2020
Round of bilateral technical discussions led by Water Affairs Minister of Sudan with his Egyptian and Ethiopian counterparts to discuss the resumption of negotiations

02/06/2020 letter to Security Council

Sudan,assertive
Sudan believes that the 1997 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses reflects and codifies the basic principles of customary international water law, which must be adhered to in order to resolve the remaining differences on the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
meeting01/05/2020 - 30/06/2020
Round of tripartite meetings between Water Affairs Ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to discuss the rules on the filling and operation of the GERD
meeting19/05/2020 - 05/06/2020
Round of bilateral technical discussions led by Water Affairs Minister of Sudan with his Egyptian and Ethiopian counterparts to discuss the resumption of negotiations
meeting09/06/2020 - 17/06/2020
Round of trilateral negotiation meetings between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan over the filling and operation of the GERD

19/06/2020 letter to Security Council

Egypt,accusatory
The filling of the GERD has been subject to intensive negotiations between the three riparian states. It strains credulity to assume that Ethiopia has, for several years, been discussing the filling plan of the GERD, and the drought mitigation measures that must be applied during the filling, merely out of neighborly generosity. The three parties are engaged in negotiations on the filling because it is a legal obligation under international law.
Egypt,accusatory
Egypt never contested Ethiopia's right to utilize the Nile River in accordance with the applicable principles of international law. However, it is disappointing and disheartening that Ethiopia has, repeatedly, raised the banner of sovereignty in discussion on the GERD as though it were a wholly internal river. International watercourses are not subject to the sovereignty and exclusive control of a single riparian and Ethiopia is obliged not to use the Nile water in a manner that causes significant harm to the downstream states.
Egypt,assertive
Ethiopia was never a colony, and all of the Nile water agreements to which Ethiopia is bound were concluded when it was an independent, sovereign state. The GERD must be governed, as stipulated in the 2015 DoP, by the applicable principles of international law, which require preventing the causing of significant harm to existing water uses.
Egypt,sympathetic
Egypt is entirely supportive of the right of Ethiopia, and other Nile riparian states, to development and to enjoy the benefits of the Nile River. Egypt, however, believes that such a right must be exercised equitably and reasonably and in accordance with the applicable rules of international law that, inter alia, protect downstream riparians against significant harm.
meeting01/05/2020 - 30/06/2020
Round of tripartite meetings between Water Affairs Ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to discuss the rules on the filling and operation of the GERD
other23/06/2020
Arab League Council's Foreign Affairs Ministers issue a resolution concerning the GERD

26/06/2020 letter to Security Council

Ethiopia,accusatory
Although none of the three countries ratified the Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses, its important principles are already enshrined in the Declaration of Principles. In relation to the obligation to provide “prior notification”, the Sudan and Egypt did not comply with any of the principles under the Convention.
meeting01/05/2020 - 30/06/2020
Round of tripartite meetings between Water Affairs Ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to discuss the rules on the filling and operation of the GERD
meeting26/06/2020
African Union (AU) Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government holds an extraordinary session on the GERD
Communiqué of the African Union on the GERD
meeting02/07/2020 - 12/07/2020
Round of tripartite negotiation meetings between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, under the auspices of the African Union
infrastructure03/07/2020
Ethiopia announces start of the 1st filling of the GERD reservoir
meeting21/07/2020
African Union Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government holds an extraordinary session on the GERD
Communiqué of the African Union on the GERD
meeting27/07/2020 - 10/08/2020
Round of tripartite negotiation meetings between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, under the auspices of the African Union
Statement from Water Affairs Ministry of Ethiopia on the status of the tripartite negotiations
meeting26/10/2020 - 04/01/2021
Round of tripartite negotiation meetings between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, under the auspices of the African Union
Statement on the ministerial meeting of the negotiation parties
meeting04/04/2021 - 06/04/2021
Round of tripartite negotiation meetings between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, under the auspices of the African Union
Press release from Ethiopia Ministery of Water Affairs on the status of the tripartite negotiations available here
meeting04/05/2021 - 11/05/2021
African Union Chairperson (President Tshilombo Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) undertakes a regional tour in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan and proposes a phased approach to a GERD agreement

11/06/2021 letter to Security Council

Egypt,accusatory
Ethiopia has declared its intention to continue the filling of the GERD in the upcoming weeks. This is an act of unilateralism that Egypt categorically rejects, and which constitutes a serious breach of Ethiopia’s obligations under customary and conventional international law, including the 2015 agreement on the Declaration of Principles, and is also inconsistent with the spirit of African solidarity and the principles of comity and good-neighbourliness.
Egypt,assertive
For Egypt, all riparian States of the Nile basin, including Ethiopia, have an inalienable right to enjoy the benefits of the Nile River. However, such a right must be exercised in accordance with the applicable rules of international law, especially the principles of prior notification and consultation, the equitable and reasonable utilization of iinternational watercourses, and the obligations to protect the riparian ecosystem and to prevent the infliction of significant harm.