Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on Sunday the end of the filling of the Great Renaissance Dam on the Nile, presented as the largest in Africa, threatening to revive regional tensions with Egypt and Sudan located downstream.
This announcement comes as negotiations between the three countries, interrupted since April 2021, resumed on August 27.
“It is with great pleasure that I announce that the fourth and last filling (of water) of the Renaissance Dam has been successfully completed,” Abiy Ahmed said in a message posted on the social network “X” ( ex-Twitter).
“There were a lot of challenges, we were often pushed to back down. We had an internal challenge and external pressures. We reached (this stage) by facing with God,” he added .
“I believe we will complete what we have planned,” said the Ethiopian leader.
Deemed vital by Addis Ababa, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), which cost around 3.5 billion euros, has been at the heart of a regional conflict since Ethiopia began work in 2011.
With this megadam 1.8 km long and 145 meters high, Ethiopia intends to double its electricity production, to which only about half of its approximately 120 million inhabitants have access.
Egypt and Sudan fear that it will reduce their water supply.
– Existential threat –
Khartoum and Cairo have repeatedly asked Ethiopia to stop filling the Gerd reservoir, pending a tripartite agreement on the operating methods of the dam.
On August 27, negotiations had resumed in Cairo, with the aim of reaching an agreement “taking into account the interests and concerns of the three countries”, said the Egyptian Ministry of Water and Irrigation.
“It is important to put an end to unilateral measures,” insisted Minister Hani Sewilam.
A few weeks earlier, in mid-July, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Abiy Ahmed had given themselves four months to reach an agreement on the filling and operation of the dam, during a meeting on the sidelines of a summit of African leaders on the war raging in Sudan.
Egypt considers this megadam an existential threat because it depends on the Nile for 97% of its water needs.
Khartoum’s position has varied in recent years.
After several months of common front with Egypt in 2022, the Sudanese leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, said last January that he “agreed on all points” with Abiy Ahmed about the Gerd.
But Sudan has been ravaged since mid-April by a deadly conflict.
published on September 10 at 10:59 a.m., AFP