Ethiopia inaugurates Africa’s largest dam amid Nile power struggles with Egypt, Sudan
The stage is now set for heated and tense hydropolitics in the Horn of Africa, just as the UN General Assembly convenes.
Ethiopia has inaugurated its colossal Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, a step that leaves Egypt and Sudan dejected.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, flanked by regional leaders including Kenya's William Ruto, Somalia's Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, South Sudan's Salva Kiir and Djibouti's Ismail Guelleh, presided over the launch.
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Barbados' premier, Mia Mottley, was also in attendance.
Also present was former premier Hailemariam Desalegn, who carried forward the project after its initiation under Meles Zenawi.
The stage is now set for heated and tense hydropolitics in the Horn of Africa, just as the UN General Assembly convenes.
Addis Ababa's playbook is rooted in survival, reflecting the anarchic nature of the international system.
At the centre of the struggle is the Nile, the world's longest river, and one of the most consequential geopolitical flashpoints of the modern era.
In 1959, Egypt and Sudan signed an agreement that shaped Nile politics for decades.
It allocated 66 per cent of the river's flow to Egypt, 22 per cent to Sudan, and left the remainder to evaporation.
Ethiopia, the source of most of the Nile's waters, was not merely excluded—it was never consulted.
Half a century later, in 2011, Addis Ababa embarked on what would become the most ambitious infrastructure project in its modern history.
Construction unfolded near the Sudanese border on the Blue Nile. For Egypt and Sudan, water security remains existential, tied to the uninterrupted flow downstream.
The GERD is Africa's largest dam. Its reservoir, roughly the size of New York City, can hold 74 billion cubic metres of water.
It is designed to generate 5,000 megawatts of electricity, more than twice Ethiopia's current national capacity of about 2,400 megawatts.
For Ethiopians, the dam is more than concrete and turbines: it is a national symbol, a turning point, and a trigger for a regional power struggle.
The stakes are stark. Electricity in Ethiopia is not just scarce—it is erratic.
In 2023, some 69 million Ethiopians remained without access to the grid, while those connected often endured blackouts without warning.
To Addis Ababa, the GERD is therefore not simply an infrastructure project but a lifeline.
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