Sudan is calling on the international community to mediate stalled trilateral GERD talks: The US, European Union, United Nations, and African Union should all play a mediating role in talks on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas told Reuters yesterday. A unilateral step by Ethiopia to fill the dam come the rainy season in July would threaten Sudan’s electricity and water supply, and would be considered a national security threat, Abbas said.

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is set to take over as the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) director general after receiving US backing, ending a months-long stalemate over the future of the organization, and making her the first WTO head from Africa, the Financial Times reports. Egypt had fielded a candidate to fill the seat, but he was eliminated from the race in September.

Also worth knowing this morning:

• President Joe Biden has pulled US support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen, more than five years after Riyadh launched a bombing campaign against the Houthi movement (The Guardian).
• The International Criminal Court (ICC) will now be able to take legal action against Israel on Palestine’s behalf for war crimes committed against Palestinians

since Israel’s establishment after the court ruled that, because Palestine was not a UN recognized state, it would be allowed to delegate its jurisdiction to the ICC, Reuters reports.