ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia has announced the filing of the controversial $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday said Ethiopia it had completed the fourth and final phase of filling a reservoir for its planned massive hydroelectric power plant on the Blue Nile, a project Egypt and Sudan have opposed.
“It is with great pleasure that I announce the successful completion of the fourth and final filling of the Renaissance Dam. Ethiopians have helped us by working together. Congratulations to all who participated in the work with their money, knowledge, energy and prayers,” Abiy said in a social media update on X.
Acknowledging the challenges faced in the project, PM Abiy said the cooperation in the initiative should be repeated in the country’s other affairs.
“We had many challenges. There was too much pulling for us to turn back. We had an internal challenge with external pressure. We endured all that and reached the top of the hill, not the end of the hill.
“I believe that we will complete what we have planned in the next period. I would like to take this opportunity to pledge that we will continue to support the dam until the end,” the PM said.
The construction of the dam Ethiopia sees as crucial to powering its economic development started in 2011 but has faced opposition from Khartoum and Cairo as the two consider the project a serious threat to their vital water supplies. It is projected to have capacity of more than 6,000 megawatts.
The Blue Nile meets the White Nile in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum, before winding northward through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea.
The announcement of the filling comes barely just over a week after Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan resumed their years-long negotiations on August 27 after two-year stalemate. The resumption of talks came after President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and PM Abiy said last month that they aim to reach within four months an agreement on the operation of the dam.
Reacting to the development, Egypt Foreign Ministry termed Ethiopia’s move as “illegal”, adding that the “unilateral measure places a burden on the course of the resumed negotiations, the next round of which is hoped will witness a tangible and real breakthrough.”
In February 2021, Sudan, which is currently involved in internal fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces, said if Ethiopia went ahead to fill the dam, it would be a threat to its national security.
“The filling of the Renaissance Dam by one side next July represents a direct threat to Sudan’s national security,” Sudanese Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Yasser Abbas told Reuters then.
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