"CAIRO/DUBAI - Arab states are calling on the U.N. Security Council to discuss the dispute over Ethiopia’s plan to fill a giant dam it is building on the Blue Nile, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Tuesday after a foreign ministers’ meeting.
Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the dam. Egypt relies on the river for as much as 90% of its fresh water and sees the dam as an existential threat. Sudan is concerned about the operation of its own Nile dams and water stations.
The ministers, meeting in Qatar, agreed on “steps to be taken gradually” to support Egypt and Sudan in the dispute, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told a news conference, without giving details.
The Arab states called on Ethiopia to negotiate “in good faith” and refrain from any unilateral steps that would harm Egypt and Sudan."
