Egypt, Ethiopian leaders discuss Blue Nile dam ahead of Cairo summit on deadly Sudan conflict #Egypt #Ethiopian #leaders #discuss #Blue #Nile #dam #ahead #Cairo #summit #deadly #Sudan #conflict

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s president and Ethiopia’s prime minister have met to discuss bilateral relations, including construction of a giant dam on the Blue Nile, ahead of a summit in Cairo to discuss potential resolutions to the deadly 12-week conflict in Sudan.

Their rare meeting at Cairo’s Al-Ittihadiya Palace Wednesday preceded a summit that President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is hosting on Sudan. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is set to attend Thursday’s high-stakes meeting, along with leaders from South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, Central African Republic and Libya.

“The two leaders discussed on key bilateral & regional issues of interest to both parties in a spirit of cooperation,” said a tweet from the Ethiopian prime minister’s account.

FILE - An Ethiopian woman scoops up portions of wheat to be allocated to each waiting family after it was distributed by the Relief Society of Tigray in the town of Agula, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia on May 8, 2021. The United States humanitarian agency told The Associated Press it is horrified by conditions in Ethiopia, where local officials have reported hundreds of hunger deaths in recent weeks after the U.S. and the United Nations paused food aid for one-sixth of the country's population over massive theft of the aid. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

The United States humanitarian agency tells The Associated Press it is horrified by conditions in Ethiopia.

FILE - An Ethiopian woman scoops up portions of yellow split peas to be allocated to waiting families after it was distributed by the Relief Society of Tigray in the town of Agula, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on May 8, 2021. In 2023 urgently needed grain and oil have disappeared again for millions caught in a standoff between Ethiopia's government, the United States and United Nations over what U.S. officials say may be the biggest theft of food aid on record. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Local officials and researchers say hunger has killed at least 700 people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in recent weeks after the United States and United Nations suspended food aid.

FILE - An Ethiopian woman argues with others over the allocation of yellow split peas after it was distributed by the Relief Society of Tigray in the town of Agula, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on May 8, 2021. In 2023 urgently needed grain and oil have disappeared again for millions caught in a standoff between Ethiopia's government, the United States and United Nations over what U.S. officials say may be the biggest theft of food aid on record. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

U.S. officials say this may be the biggest theft of food aid on record anywhere in the world.

FILE - Ukrainian refugees wait in a gymnasium, April 5, 2022, in Tijuana, Mexico. Some 110 million people around the world have had to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or human rights violations, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says. Last year alone, an additional 19 million people were forcibly displaced including more than 11 million who fled Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in what became the fastest and largest displacement of people since World War II. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

The U.N. says 110 million people in the world today have had to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or human rights violations.

The office of Egypt’s presidency said that the two leaders spoke about the Renaissance Dam and the crisis in Sudan. No further details about the meeting were made public.

Egypt has been at odds with Ethiopia over the construction of the hydroelectric dam, which has also caused tensions in Sudan. Ethiopia says it needs the dam to bring electricity to millions of people who lack power.

Sudan and Egypt fear it will reduce the amount of water they receive downstream on the Nile River. The dam is located in western Ethiopia just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Sudanese border.

Egypt and Sudan have called for a legally binding agreement on how the dam would be operated and filled, but Ethiopia has rejected the proposal.

Sudan has been in chaos since mid-April after tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces burst into open fighting.

The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and wounded more than 6,000 others, Health Minister Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim said last month. The actual death toll is likely much higher, say doctors and activists.

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