UPDATE - Sudan, Ethiopia leaders look to settle dam disputes

UPDATED WITH JOINT STATEMENT, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM (AA) – Sudan and Ethiopia have agreed to solve their disputes over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) through dialogue between the two sides, said a Sudanese spokesman on Tuesday.

In a joint statement after a meeting between the countries’ premiers, Information Minister Faisal Mohamed Salih said that the two neighbors also agreed to stop border confrontations and seek a permanent solution to their border disputes.

Regional neighbors Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia have continued disputes over the building of GERD, especially on the issues of its filling and operation.

Salih, the spokesman for Sudan's transitional government, added that the two premiers, Sudan’s Abdalla Hamdok and Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed, also discussed ways to boost bilateral economic ties.

Ahmed arrived in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Tuesday for talks with Hamdok and Abdul Fatah Alburhan, the head of Sudan's Sovereign Council.

His visit comes a week after Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli visited Sudan for talks.

Alburhan on Monday said the Sudanese army would retake all the Sudanese border territories under dispute, such as Alfashaga from Ethiopia and Halaybe claimed by Egypt.