Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday said Ethiopia has completed filling Africa’s largest dam on the Nile, which has been an ongoing point of contention with neighbouring Egypt and Sudan.
“We have successfully completed the first dam filling without bothering and hurting anyone else.
“Now the dam is overflowing downstream,’’ Abiy said in a statement read out on national television.
The announcement came a day after Abiy said the three countries affected by the divisive Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) had reached a “major common understanding” that would pave the way for an agreement.
Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan had held a virtual meeting, hosted by African Union chair Cyril Ramaphosa, about the ongoing negotiations about the hydroelectric dam.
Recently, Ethiopia denied it was filling the reservoir without the consent of downstream Egypt and Sudan, saying that rising water levels in the dam were because of seasonal rainfall.
The dam, which Ethiopia has been building since 2010 on the Blue Nile, has caused animosity amid deadlocked talks with Egypt, which is concerned about the control of water flow.
Report says Ethiopia wants the hydroelectric dam to expand its power exports, whereas Egypt relies almost exclusively on the Nile for farming, industry and domestic water use.
Egypt seeks a legally binding deal that would guarantee the appropriate flows of water and a legal mechanism for resolving disputes before the dam starts operating.
