The Sudanese ambassador in Cairo Abdel Mohamoud Abdel al-Haliem left Cairo on Thursday evening after the Sudanese Foreign Ministry decided to recall him for consultations, according to the Sudanese official news agency.
The decision came following denials from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry of the authenticity of news being circulated from Sudanese media outlets that reported Egypt’s demand to exclude Sudan from the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam [GERD] negotiations.
In response to the decision, the official spokesperson of the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement that the Egyptian Embassy in Sudan was informed with the recall decision to the Sudanese ambassador in Cairo and that Egypt is now assessing the situation to take appropriate action.
On Sunday, the Ethiopian ‘AddisFortune’ newspaper published a report claiming that officials from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa had rejected an Egyptian proposal to exclude Sudan from negotiations, and said that direct negotiation between Egypt and Ethiopia continues, seeking an agreement on the controversial dam.
The report was followed by a response from The Sudanese Ministry of Water Resources in which it stated that a request to exclude Khartoum from negotiations is illegal if true.
