Ethiopia's Controversial Dam Has Been Completed

Ethiopia's prime minister said Thursday that his country's controversial power dam on the Nile has been completed. Egypt has long opposed the dam because of concerns it would deplete its share of Nile River waters. Egypt has referred to the dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, as an existential threat because the Arab world's most populous country relies almost entirely on the Nile to supply water for agriculture and its more than 100 million people. Ethiopia disputes that suggestion, and insists it doesn't need authorization from a foreign country to build the dam it views as key to its development needs.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers Thursday, said his government is "preparing for its official inauguration" in September, reports the AP. "While there are those who believe it should be disrupted before that moment, we reaffirm our commitment: the dam will be inaugurated," he said. Abiy said his country "remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters."

Ethiopia and Egypt have been trying to find an agreement for years over the $4 billion dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011. The dam, on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border, began producing power in 2022. The project is expected to ultimately produce over 6,000 megawatts of electricity, which is double Ethiopia's current output and enough to make the East African nation of 120 million a net energy exporter.