A view of the Nile River and the Cairo city is seen from the Cairo Tower in Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 24, 2019. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo)

Egypt on Tuesday called for a suspension of meetings with Ethiopia on Addis Ababa's massive dam construction project on the Nile.

Sudan threatened to withdraw from the talks saying Ethiopia insisted on linking them to renegotiating a deal on sharing the waters of the Blue Nile.

Sudan's water and irrigation minister, Yasser Abbas, said he received a letter from his Ethiopian counterpart who proposed "the deal under discussion be limited to filling up the dam and any deal concerning its management be linked to the question of sharing Blue Nile waters."

Egypt and Sudan invoke a "historic right" over the river guaranteed by treaties concluded in 1929 and 1959. 

However, Ethiopia uses a treaty signed in 2010 by six riverside countries and boycotted by Egypt and Sudan authorizing irrigation projects and dams on the river.

"This is a significant development and a change in the Ethiopian position," the Sudanese minister said in a statement.

"This new Ethiopian position threatens the negotiations under the aegis of the African Union, and Sudan will not participate in negotiations which include the subject of sharing Blue Nile waters," he said.

AFP