Egypt upset as Ethiopia fills Nile dam reservoir amid water dispute

Egypt is extremely furious as Ethiopia claimed to have completed the filling of the dam in the Blue Nile river.

Ethiopia has been arguing with Egypt and Sudan about the mega project since it started in 2011. Egypt gets almost all of its water from the Nile River.

Egypt’s foreign ministry stated that Ethiopia was not considering the concerns of the countries downstream.

Ethiopia claims that the $4. 2 billion (£34 billion) dam won’t reduce their portion of Nile water.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on X, which is formerly known as Twitter, that he is very happy to announce that the fourth and final filling of the Renaissance Dam has been successfully completed.

He said the project had problems from inside and outside, but “we managed to handle everything. ” The dam started making electricity in February 2022.

Ethiopia thinks that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will make twice the amount of electricity that the country currently produces. This will help the country develop and improve as almost half of its 127 million people do not have access to electricity.

The goal is to produce over 6,000 MW of electricity at the dam, which is located about 30km (19 miles) away from Ethiopia’s border with Sudan.

Egypt and Sudan are having a disagreement about the rules for how Gerd should work. They are worried that Ethiopia, who needs a lot of energy, could make their water shortages even worse.

Talks about the project started again last month. They had been stopped in 2021.

The country of Sudan, which is currently facing conflict between two armies, did not respond immediately to the announcement made by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday.

The Egyptian foreign ministry wrote on Facebook that Ethiopia filling the reservoir on its own is against the agreement signed by the three countries in 2015. They also said that Ethiopia’s action is illegal.

“The statement said that the three countries must agree on the rules for filling and operating the Gerd before they can start filling it. ”

“Ethiopia’s actions ignore the concerns and rights of the countries downstream. This goes against international law, which promises them water security. ”