The African Union will hold an urgent virtual meeting on Friday in Addis Ababa, to discuss the developments in the stalled negotiations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Sudanese News Agency (SUNA).

The meeting will be chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the head of the African Union in 2020.

The urgent meeting was announced few hours after a phone call conducted between President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his South African counterpart, as both leaders tackled Egypt's request to the UN Security Council to intervene in the issue of the dam to reach a fair and balanced agreement that takes into account the interests of all parties, according to Egyptian Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Radi in a statement.