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February 21,2022

Anna Murray 

On February 20, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a massive hydroelectric dam built on a tributary of the Nile River, began generating electricity. The dam costs US$4.2 billion (£3.8 billion) and is located in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region. For a long time, Ethiopia has been at odds with Egypt and Sudan over the Mega Dam. According to Sudan and Egypt, the dam will cause severe water shortages downstream. 

The Nile is one of the world's longest rivers, stretching 6,695 kilometers (4,160 miles) and supplying water and hydroelectric power to settlements along its course. The drainage basin is made up of ten countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The Nile Basin nations signed the Cooperative Framework Agreement in 2010 despite the absence of Egypt and Sudan. The construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is located 30 kilometers from the Sudanese border on the Blue Nile, one of the Nile River's two major tributaries, began in 2011. The dam's massive reservoir is 145 meters (475 feet) long and has a capacity of 74 billion cubic meters of water (2,600 billion cubic feet). According to the state-owned ETV News station, it is currently 83.9 percent complete. The project will take between two and a half and three years to complete. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed presided over the start of electricity generation at one of the 13 turbines of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Egypt opposes the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, claiming that it will disrupt water supplies while the reservoir is refilled. Egypt, which has a population of nearly 100 million people, has declared that the dam poses a serious threat to the country's water supply, while Sudan has stated that the dam endangers the lives of millions of people. Ethiopia, on the other hand, regards it as critical to its development.