Reuters
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Ethiopia officially launched Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam on Tuesday. It is a project that provides energy to millions of Ethiopians, deepening the rift with downstream Egypt, which has made the region unstable.
Ethiopia, the continent’s second-most populous country with a population of 120 million, sees the $5 billion Grand Ethiopia Arnaissance Dam (GERD) as the center of economic ambitions, a tributary of the Nile.
The dam’s power output gradually increased since the first turbine was turned on in 2022, reaching up to 5,150 MW of power on Tuesday. It is one of the 20 largest hydroelectric dams in the world, about a quarter of the capacity of China’s three canyon dams.
At a ceremony on the Guba property on Tuesday, an Ethiopian fighter jet escaped the mist from the white waters of a dam plunging 170 meters (558 feet).
Under the canopy of the giant Ethiopian flag, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed spoke to a crowd of senior officials, including the presidents of Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya.
“Our (Sudan and Egyptian) brother, Ethiopia, flourished, electrified the entire region and built dams to change the history of black people,” Abiy said. “I will never hurt my brother.”
Abiy says the dam will improve access to electricity for almost half of the population that had nothing recently in 2022 and export surplus to the region.
The dam’s reservoir has flooded areas larger than London. The government says it will provide a stable water supply for downstream irrigation, while limiting floods and droughts.
However, downstream neighbors in Ethiopia have seen the project progress in DREAD since construction began in 2011.
Egypt, which built its own Aswan High Dam on the Nile in the 1960s, fears that GERD could limit water supply during droughts, allowing it to promote the construction of other upstream dams.
The Foreign Ministry wrote to the UN Security Council that the inauguration ceremony of the dam violated international law.
Cairo has vehemently opposed the dam from the beginning, claiming it violates the water treaty that dates back to the early part of the last century, poses an existential threat.
Egypt, which has around 108 million people, relies on the Nile for about 90% of its freshwater.
Egypt says it “reserves the right to take all appropriate measures to protect and protect the interests of the people of Egypt.”
Egypt has refrained from direct retaliation against Ethiopia, but in recent years it has approached Addis Ababa’s rival in the Horn of Africa, particularly in Eritrea.
Meanwhile, Sudan has joined Egypt’s demand for legally binding agreements regarding dam filling and operation, but can also benefit from flood control and access to cheap energy.
Ethiopia has been filling the reservoirs in stages since 2020 and claims it will not cause any major harm to the downstream countries.
Independent studies have recorded so far the major disruptions in downstream flows, and also note the careful filling of reservoirs during the five-year wet season.
According to Mekdelawit Messay, an Ethiopian water researcher at Florida International University, GERD proves to be a source of national pride in Ethiopia, which has faced many years of internal conflicts, primarily along ethnic lines.
“It’s a banner that brings together the bottom and shows what can be achieved when it’s united.”
Local media said 91% of the funds come from the state, with the remaining 9% buying and donating bonds from Ethiopians.
Sultan Abdullahi Hassan, a farmer who lives near the dam, said the project brought electricity to his village.
“We have a fridge now. We can drink cold water. Now we use electricity for everything,” he said at the launch.
The extra electricity supports the country’s burgeoning Bitcoin mining, but most rural Ethiopians may have to wait a little longer to make a profit.
Access to rural electricity is often constrained by undeveloped transmission networks. According to the World Bank, urban areas had an electrification rate of 94% as of 2022, but only 55% of the total population was electricity.
