Ethiopia’s mega-dam is the biggest hydro-electric project in Africa
July 3 — Ethiopia has completed building a mega-dam on the Blue Nile that has long been a source of tension with Egypt and Sudan.
Launched in 2011 with a $4bn (£2.9bn) budget, the dam is Africa’s biggest hydro-electric plant, and a major source of pride for Ethiopians.
Ethiopia sees the dam as vital to meeting its energy needs but Egypt and Sudan see it as threatening their water supply from the Nile.
In a statement announcing the completion of the project, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sought to reassure his neighbours. “To our neighbours downstream – Egypt and Sudan – our message is clear: the Renaissance Dam is not a threat, but a shared opportunity,” he said.
US President Donald Trump said in 2020 that Egypt had threatened to “blow up” the dam – officially known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd).
In a conciliatory move, Abiy said that both Egypt and Sudan would be invited to its official inauguration in September.
“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Sudan’s military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met earlier this week and “stressed their rejection of any unilateral measures in the Blue Nile Basin”.
More than a mile long and 145m high, the dam is on the Blue Nile tributary in the northern Ethiopia highlands, from where 85% of the Nile’s waters flow.
Ethiopia wants the dam to produce desperately needed electricity, as the majority of its population – about 60% – have no supply.
Egypt relies on the River Nile for nearly all of its fresh water, and fears that the flow of water could be disrupted.
It has argued that just a 2% reduction in the amount of water it gets from the Nile could result in the loss of 200,000 acres of irrigated land.
Sudan is also heavily reliant on water from the Nile, and shares Egypt’s concerns.
Abiy said Ethiopia was “willing to engage constructively” with the two countries.
However, previous talks have failed to resolve differences.
