The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam must compensate Egypt and Sudan.

Egyptian Minister: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam must compensate Egypt and Sudan.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is Africa's largest hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. Construction began in 2011 and was officially commissioned in September 2025. The dam is 145 to 175 meters high and 1,800 to 1,820 meters long, with a reservoir capacity of up to 74 billion cubic meters of water. The associated power plant generates 5,000 to 5,150 megawatts through 13 to 16 turbines. The reservoir was filled in stages from 2020 to 2024, despite international tensions. The project cost approximately US$4.6 billion and is intended to make Ethiopia an energy exporter. Egypt and Sudan feared water shortages, leading to diplomatic crises, but Ethiopia emphasized the benefits for regional energy supplies. Abiy Ahmed celebrated the dam as a symbol of Ethiopian strength. "There is no precedent for the construction of a dam of this magnitude through unilateral action," said Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hany Sewilam. He explained the damage to his country to the Egyptian Senate, pointing out that Egypt's water supply had decreased from 55 billion cubic meters to 38 billion cubic meters due to the dam. The repeated statements by Egyptian officials invoking colonial-era agreements and citing "historical rights" demonstrate their reliance on such claims, which the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry had already condemned in a previous statement. “The Blue Nile, which originates in the Ethiopian Highlands, contributes 86% of the water to the Nile Basin. The Blue Nile catchment area accounts for 70% of Ethiopia’s surface water,” the statement read. At the dam’s inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed confirmed that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) was built to change the history of the Black population and certainly not to harm their brethren. While Sudan acknowledges the dam’s benefits for agriculture and power generation, it accuses Ethiopia of causing river flooding by releasing water from the dam. When questioned in late September, Ethiopia’s Minister of Water and Energy, Habtamu Itefa Geleta, emphasized that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had helped reduce flooding in Sudan, stating, “We have not released any excess water.” Ethiopia also declared that Egypt's accusations that Ethiopia was responsible for the floods in Sudan were baseless. https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/gerd-groesster-staudamm-afrikas-in-betrieb-genommen/100154127.html https://taz.de/Grand-Ethiopian-Renaissance-Dam/!6111919/ https://www.srf.ch/news/international/aethiopien-afrikas-groesster-staudamm-ist-offiziell-eroeffnet https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand-Ethiopian-Renaissance-Talsperre