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During the weekly press briefing session, Spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dina Mufti reiterated the commitment of the federal government to maintain relief operation in Tigray region.

Ambassador Dina said the recent permission granted to humanitarian flight is part of the efforts to address the need the need in the area.

Humanitarian cargos must land at Addis Ababa and undergo close inspection and checkup before they enter Tigray, the spokesperson stressed.

Saying that the unilateral ceasefire declared by the government is intended to protect peace and security to the people in the region, create peaceful farming atmosphere for the farmers and continue peaceful negotiation with international stakeholders, the Spokesperson said the TPLF group has not yet shown any interest to adhere to respect secession of hostility.

The terrorist TPLF has continued disseminating disinformation, fake news and misinformation as false propaganda to mislead the international community.

Regarding Thursday’s United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting, the Spokesperson said almost all member countries have urged Egypt and Sudan to come back to the AU led negotiation on GERD.

The Water, Irrigation and Energy Minister, Dr. Seleshi Bekele urged the UNSC to encourage the two countries stick to the AU led process, he added.

Ethiopians and Ethiopian nationals living in all corners of the world specially those residing in the US have plaid a crucial role in clarifying the world about Ethiopia’s fair and reasonable position on the Nile River and fighting foreign meddling in to Ethiopia’s internal affairs.

Financial Support of the Diaspora community to construction of GERD has been increasing more than before, he added.

Concerning the efforts to return Ethiopian compatriots from detention centers of Saudi Arabia, the Spokesperson explained the nation has repatriated 21,182 citizens with 99 charter flights.

The Water Irrigation and Energy Minister Dr. Seleshi Bekele, in Thursday’s meeting, urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to encourage Egypt and Sudan to stick to the AU led negotiation to seek a solution for the GERD issue.

He also urged Egypt and Sudan to understand that a resolution to the Nile issue won’t come from the Security Council, rather, he said it can only come from good faith negotiations under the auspices of the AU with due care for the wellbeing and development of each other.

“Unlike Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia has no considerable ground-water reserve. We also don’t have seawater to desalinate. Nearly 70 percent of my country’s water is in the Nile Basin. Even if we want to, even if we try, we cannot avoid utilizing the Nile River” he stressed.

He added saying: “Ethiopia believes that an agreement is within reach, given the necessary political will and the commitment to negotiate in good faith. Understanding already reached on a number of the issues. The African Union is seized of the matter and is ably facilitating our negotiation.”

H.E. Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia met in his office today (July 07) ambassadors and diplomats of the Nile riparian states in Ethiopia for a briefing on the latest status of the GERD negotiations.

During the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister said the GERD represents the common aspirations of all the riparian countries to equitably and reasonably utilize the water resource without significantly harming downstream countries.

In this regard, Mr. Demeke said the latest attempts made by Sudan and Egypt to take the GERD issue to the UN Peace and Security Council by mobilizing the League of the Arab States would unnecessarily internationalize and securitize the matter.

It also leaves a dangerous precedent and takes the negotiation process away from the African Union standing contrary to the principle of solving African problems through African-led mechanisms, he added.

He said Ethiopia believes that the GERD is a development project which does not fall under the mandate of the Security Council and called on the Council to respect the ongoing AU-led trilateral negotiations and process.

Mr. Demeke finally called on the riparian countries to forge a common front in opposing the approach taken by the downstream states, which undermines the role played by the African Union and accentuates the colonial and monopolistic claims of the two countries over the resource.

Ambassadors and representatives of the missions of the Upper Riparian Countries present at the meeting appreciated the initiative taken by Ethiopia to update them on matters of the GERD as they are the main stakeholders of the shared water resource.

They further underscored that the Issue of the Renaissance Dam is their concern too since all of them also aspire to utilize the Nile River for development purposes.

They said the GERD negotiations have been in the capable hands of the African Union so far, which should further be encouraged as the resource is African and the tripartite states are in Africa.

In this regard, they underscored that all of the negotiating parties should seek peaceful solutions under the AU-led process being committed to the principle of finding “African Solutions to African problems.”

The diplomats have finally underscored that the UNSC has no mandate to decide on the GERD that is purely a development project.

Ethiopia rejects the unwelcome meddling by the League of Arab States on the matter of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) following the League’s submission of a letter to the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly to intervene in the matter.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, H.E. Demeke Mekonnnen sent a letter to the president of the UNSC on Monday (July 05) stating that his country is disappointed by the Arab League for addressing the UN on a matter that does not fall within its purview.

The League of Arab States has a reputation for its unfettered and unconditional support to any claim Egypt has presented on the issue of the Nile, the letter adds.

The approach followed by the League risks undermining the friendly and cooperative relations between AU and the Arab League since the trilateral negotiation on the GERD is underway under the auspices of the African Union (AU), the letter adds.

The letter notes that the AU, as a common organization for Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, offers the tripartite a platform to negotiate and reach a win-win outcome guided by the conviction of finding “African solutions to Africa’s challenges.”

The letter further states that Ethiopia is engaging in the trilateral negotiations in good faith and continuing its utmost commitment to make the AU-led process a success and calls on the two lower riparian countries of the Nile to remain faithful to the ongoing African Union-led negotiation.

Ethiopia also reiterates its request for the international community to encourage Egypt and Sudan to abide by the accepted principles of international law on the utilization of transboundary water resources.

በመላው ዓለም ከሚገኙ የዳያስፖራ ፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ቡድን ተወካዮች ጋር መንግስት በወሰደው የተናጥል የሰብዓዊ ድጋፍ ተኩስ አቁም ውሳኔ ላይ የበይነ መረብ ውይይት ተካሄደ፡፡

በወቅቱ የኢትዮጵያ ዳያስፖራ ኤጀንሲ ዋና ዳይሬክተር ክብርት ወ/ሮ ሰላማዊት ዳዊት ባስተላለፉት መልዕክት መድረኩ በመንግስት ከተወሰደው የተኩስ አቁም ውሳኔ ጋር በተያያዘ የተፈጠረውን ብዥታ በማጥራት በዳያስፖራው የተጀመሩ የፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ስራዎች ግለታቸውን ጠብቀው እንዲሄዱ ማድረግን ዓላማ አድርጎ መዘጋጀቱን አንስተው፣ ለውሳኔው መነሻ የሆኑ ምክንያቶችን በዝርዝር አቅርበዋል፡፡ ዋና ዳይሬክተሯ አክለውም ዳያስፖራው ከውሳኔው ጋር በተያያዘ ያሉትን ጥያቄና አስተያየቶች እንዲሁም ቀጣይ የዳያስፖራ ፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ አካሄድን በተመለከተ ሃሳቡን እንዲያጋራ ጋብዘዋል፡፡

የዳያስፖራ ፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ቡድን ተወካዮቹም መጀመሪያ አካባቢ ውሳኔውን ሲሰሙ መደናገጣቸውን አንስተው፣ በተከታታይ በልዩ ልዩ የመንግስት አካላት መግለጫዎች ከተሰጡ በኋላ በጉዳዩ ላይ ግልጽነት እንድተፈጠረላቸውና ውሳኔው በበቂ ምክንያቶች ላይ የተመሰረተ እንደሆነ መረዳታቸውን ገልጸዋል፡፡ አክለውም በዳያስፖራው ዘንድ የሚከናወነው የፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ስራ ውጤታማ እንዲሆን በመንግስ በኩል መከናወን አለባቸው ያሏቸውን ነገሮች አቅርበዋል፡፡ ከነዚህም መካከል መረጃዎች ወቅታዊነታቸውን ጠብቀውና ተናበው እንዲቀርቡ፣ የዳያስፖራ ፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ቡድን አባላት የሚያከናውኑትን ስራ የሚደግፍና በባለሙያዎች የሚመራ የህዝብ ግንኙነት ስራ እንዲከናወን፣ በሃገር ውስጥ በመንግስት የሚከናወኑ መልካም ተግባራትን ለዓለም ዓቀፉ ማህበረሰብ ተደራሽ ለማድረግና አመለካከትን ለመለወጥ ሊሰራ እንደሚገባ መናገራቸው ይጠቀሳሉ፡፡

ከዚህም በተጨማሪ የፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ቡድን አስተባባሪዎቹ በዕውቀታቸውም ሆነ በገንዘባቸው የፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ስራውን ለመደገፍ ዝግጁ መሆናቸውን አንስተው፣ በየአካባቢያቸው የሚገኙ ሚዲያዎችን በመቅረብ የኢትዮጵያን ዕውነት ለማስረዳት የተቻላቸውን ሁሉ እንደሚያደርጉ ገልጸዋል፡፡

የኢፌዴሪ ውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስቴር ሚኒስትር ዴኤታ ክቡር አምባሳደር ሬድዋን ሁሴን መድረኩ ሲጠቃለል ባስተላለፉት መልዕክት መንግስት በተለያዩ ገፊ ምክንያቶች ማለትም ዋነኛዎቹ የህግ ማስከበር ዓላማዎች በመሳካታቸው፣ ግጭቱ ከመደበኛ ወደ ህዝባዊ ግጭት በመለወጡና ይህም ሊያስከትል የሚችለው ጉዳት ከፍተኛ በመሆኑ እንዲሁም ወቅቱ ክረምት በመሆኑ የግብርና ስራ እንዳይስተጓጎል ማድረግ በማስፈለጉ የተኩስ አቁም ውሳኔ ላይ መድረሱን ጠቅሰው፣ ውሳኔውም የኢትዮጵያን ዘላቂ ጥቅም ለማስከበር መወሰዱን አብነቶችን በማንሳት አስረድተዋል፡፡ አክለውም መንግስት የመረጃ ፍሰት ክፍተት እንዳለበት እንደሚረዳና ይህንንም ለማስተካከል አሰራሮችን ማበጀቱን ገልጸው፣ ዳያስፖራውም በአዲሱ አሰራር የሚመነጩ ወቅታዊ መረጃዎችን ከሚሲዮኖችና ከሚመለከታቸው ክፍሎች በማግኘት የፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ስራው ግለቱን ጠብቆ እንዲሄድ እንዲያደርግ ጥሪያቸውን ቸቅርበዋል፡፡

በመድረኩ ላይ የኢፌዴሪ ሚሲዮን መሪዎችን፣ ዲፕሎማቶችን፣ የዳያስፖራ ፐብሊክ ዲፕሎማሲ ቡድን አስተባባሪዎችንና አባላትን ጨምሮ ከ600 በላይ ተሳታፊዎች ተገኝተዋል፡፡