Sudan on Wednesday proposed that the heads of state of the three countries involved in the spat over the use of the Nile waters directly handle the disagreement to provide a lasting political solution.

Khartoum said the Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia and the mode of filling it should be directly handled by the top leadership of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

A statement issued by the Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation said there had been “conceptual differences” between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on a number of issues related to the Renaissance Dam.

Sudan says the current agreement is supposed to address the filling and operation of the dam, and not the sharing of water among the three countries.

Ethiopia and other Nile basin countries have argued that Egypt and Sudan are beneficiaries of an archaic treaty that gives the two countries the largest chunk of the water.