The Sudanese government has approved an initiative by the United Arab Emirates to mediate on the border dispute with neighboring Ethiopia, as well as on the dispute over a mega dam being constructed on the Nile.

The al-Fashaga farmlands where Ethiopia's northern Amhara region meets Sudan's Gedaref state in the east is claimed by both nations and has recently been a source of clashes between troops.

Negotiations over the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam have remained deadlocked for years despite recent interventions by the United States and the African Union.

Ethiopia opposes any external parties other than the AU in the mediation of the dam dispute, which it has been building to produce electricity, despite fierce opposition from Sudan and Egypt.