Egypt expresses unease at prolonged GERD negotiations: Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs, Hamdi Sanad Loza, expressed unease at the drawn-out negotiations about the Grand Ethopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in a meeting with the ambassadors of the European countries accredited to Cairo on Thursday, according to an official statement. Loza said that Egypt offered Ethiopia a fair proposal and stressed the importance of “imposing a unilateral vision without regard for the interests of others or without giving consideration to avoiding the damages that will afflict the two downstream states, particularly Egypt.” The statement comes as Sudan and Ethiopia’s irrigation ministers are due in Cairo today to discuss plans to fill the dam, according to Sudan’s state news agency SUNA.