Ethiopia inaugurated the continent’s largest hydroelectric challenge on Tuesday (September 9, 2025) in what Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed known as a “great achievement for all black people”, however it drew a protest to the United Nations from downstream nation Egypt.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), straddling a tributary of the River Nile, is a nationwide challenge of historic scale and a uncommon unifying image in a rustic torn aside by ongoing inside conflicts.
Towering 170 m and stretching almost 2 km throughout the Blue Nile close to the Sudanese border, building on the dam started in 2011.
The $4-billion megastructure is designed to carry 74 billion cubic metres of water and generate 5,150 megawatts of electrical energy — greater than double Ethiopia’s present capability.
That makes it the biggest dam by energy capability in Africa, although nonetheless outdoors the highest 10 globally.
“GERD will be remembered as a great achievement not only for Ethiopia, but for all black people,” Mr. Abiy stated on the opening ceremony, attended by regional leaders together with Kenyan President William Ruto and Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
“I invite all black people to visit the dam. It demonstrates that we, as black people, can achieve anything we plan,” stated Mr. Abiy, who has made the challenge a cornerstone of his rule.
But Egypt, depending on the Nile for 97% of its water, has lengthy decried the challenge, with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi calling it an “existential threat” to its water safety.
In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Egypt described the inauguration as a “unilateral measure that violates international law” and vowed to defend “the existential interests of its people”.
Mr. Abiy once more insisted the dam will not be a menace.
“For downstream countries, Ethiopia has accomplished GERD as a shining example for black people. It will not affect your development at all,” he stated on the ceremony.
‘No longer a dream’
The festivities started the night time earlier than with a blinding show of lanterns, lasers and drones writing slogans like “geopolitical rise” and “a leap into the future”.
Analysts say the dam can enhance Ethiopia’s industrial manufacturing, allow a shift in the direction of electrical autos and provide the area by energy traces that stretch so far as Tanzania.
Some 45 p.c of Ethiopia’s 130 million individuals lack electrical energy, based on World Bank information, and frequent blackouts within the capital Addis Ababa drive companies and households to depend on turbines.
“It is no longer a dream but a fact,” Pietro Salini, CEO of Italian agency Webuild, the dam’s primary building contractor, advised AFP.
He stated the challenge needed to overcome large manpower and financing challenges, in addition to the brutal civil conflict of 2020-2022 between the federal government and rebels from the Tigray area.
But now, “this country that was dark in the evening when I first arrived here… is selling energy to neighbouring countries,” stated Salini.
The Blue Nile gives as much as 85 p.c of the water that types the River Nile, combining with the White Nile earlier than heading by Sudan and Egypt.
But Salini dismissed issues from the downstream nations.
“The hydroelectric project releases water to produce energy. They are not irrigation schemes that consume water. There’s no change in the flow,” stated Salini.
Mediation efforts by the United States, World Bank, Russia, the UAE and the African Union have all faltered over the previous decade.
“For the Egyptian leadership, GERD is not just about water, it is about national security. A major drop in water supply threatens Egypt’s internal stability. The stakes are economic, political and deeply social,” stated Mohamed Mohey el-Deen, previously a part of Egypt’s crew assessing GERD’s impression.
The tensions haven’t been all unhealthy for Ethiopia’s authorities.
“Ethiopia is located in a rough neighbourhood and with growing domestic political fragility, the government seeks to use the dam and confrontation with neighbours as a unifying strategy,” stated Alex Vines, of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
