Egypt does not want Ethiopia to fill the Grand Renaissance Dam until an agreement is signed. The three nations have resume talks on 9th June 2020.
ADDIS ABABA (BBC News Africa) – Ethiopia will push ahead with filling the Grand Renaissance Dam because the country needs to develop and provide electricity for its people, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said.
He told the Ethiopian Parliament on 8th June 2020 that the country had already lost money because of delays. Construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam began in 2011, and when it is full it will be Africa’s biggest hydroelectric power plant.
“We are tired of begging and the desire to develop does not mean we have intentions to harm other countries,” the Ethiopian News Agency quoted him as saying.
The dam was not intended to create any diplomatic rift, he said.
The speed with which Ethiopia fills up the dam’s reservoir will affect the flow downstream for Sudan and Egypt.
- Read on BBC News Africa: The trouble over a giant Nile dam
Egypt does not want Ethiopia to fill the dam until an agreement is signed. The three nations have resume talks on 9th June 2020.
Egypt, which relies on the Nile for 90% of its fresh water, views the Grand Renaissance Dam project as an existential threat.
But Prime Minister Abiy said some 50 million Ethiopians had no clean drinking water or electricity.
“Completing the project and utilizing it is no different than fulfilling the basic rights like that of Egypt where 98% of people have electricity.”
In March, Ethiopia pulled out of US-mediated talks, accusing the US of overstepping the role of neutral observer (statement given on 28th February 2020 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia).
Source: BBC News Africa
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See also:
- Ethiopian government’s statement regarding the negotiations on the Nile Dam (GERD)
- Statement by the Secretary of the Treasury on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
- Update ― Joint Statement of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, the United States and the World Bank
- Update ― Joint statement of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, the United States and the World Bank