Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - The African Mirror

Mar

2021

Egypt’s Sisi warns of dire consequences

EGYPT’S President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said yesterday that there would be severe regional consequences if Egypt's water supply were affected by a giant hydropower dam being built by Ethiopia. Egypt, along with its southern neighbour Sudan, is seeking a legally binding agreement over the operations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Addis Ababa says is crucial to its economic development. However, talks have repeatedly stalled and Ethiopia began filling the reservoir behind the dam last year with no deal in place. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Photo: Paul Kagame/flickr It is expected to add water for a second year…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Sudan requests mediation over Ethiopian dam

NEWS

SUDAN’S prime minister has written to the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States to formally request their mediation on the Nile water being used to fill Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Sudanese foreign ministry announced yesterday. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok expressed concern over Ethiopia's stated intention of adding more water to the reservoir behind the hydropower dam for a second year in letters sent on Saturday, the statement added. Sudan had already floated the idea of the four-party mediation with Egyptian support after an African Union-led mediation effort stalled.

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt ups pressure for Ethiopia dam deal

NEWS

KHALID ABDELAZIZ and AIDAN LEWIS EGYPTIAN President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for a binding deal by the summer on the operation of a giant Ethiopian hydropower dam, as he made his first visit to neighbouring Sudan since the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir. Egypt also signalled support for Sudan in a dispute with Ethiopia over an area on the border between the two countries where there have recently been armed skirmishes. Both Egypt and Sudan lie downstream from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Addis Ababa says is crucial to its economic development. Ethiopia, which says it has…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Sudan’s warning on Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam

NEWS

KHALID ABDELAZIZ ANY unilateral step by Ethiopia to fill its hydropower project, called the Renaissance Dam, in July would directly threaten Sudan's national security, Sudanese Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Yasser Abbas has said. Sudan is also proposing a mediation role for the United States, European Union, United Nations and African Union as a way of breaking the deadlock in talks about the dam between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia, Abbas told Reuters in an interview. His comments come at a time of increased tension between Sudan and Ethiopia over disputed farmland near their shared border. This is on top of…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt summons Ethiopia’s envoy over comments – statement

NEWS

THE Egyptian foreign ministry summoned the Ethiopian Chargé d'Affairs to Cairo on Wednesday to provide clarifications over comments made by the spokesman of the Ethiopian foreign ministry, it said. The comments "addressed" Egyptian internal affairs, the ministry added without providing more details. It was not immediately clear what comments had angered Egypt. Egyptian officials were not immediately available to comment. However, Qatar's Al Jazeera Media Network reported earlier today that Dina Mufti, the Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesperson, attacked Cairo for criticizing a giant dam that Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile and using the project to cover several…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia summons U.S. ambassador over Trump comments in dam dispute

NEWS

DAWIT ENDESHAW ETHIOPIA has summoned the U.S. ambassador over what it called an "incitement of war" between Ethiopia and Egypt from President Donald Trump over their dispute about the filling and operation of a massive hydropower dam. Trump called on Friday for an agreement between the countries, but added it was a dangerous situation and that Cairo could end up "blowing up that dam". Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Gedu Andargachew summoned U.S. Ambassador Mike Raynor to Addis Ababa to seek clarifications on the comments. "The incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt from a sitting U.S. president neither reflects the…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia says it will not cave to ‘aggression’ in dam dispute

NEWS

ETHIOPIA has declared that threats of any kind towards resolving a dispute with its neighbours over the filling and operation of a massive hydropower dam were "misguided, unproductive and clear violations of international law". Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office made no mention of any person or any country in a statement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is at the centre of a dispute over Nile water supplies. But his comment came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call with the Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in which they called for an amicable solution between…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia bans flights over dam for security reasons – aviation chief

NEWS

ETHIOPIA has banned all flights over its giant new hydropower dam on the Blue Nile for security reasons, the head of its civil aviation authority has said. Ethiopia is locked in a dispute with Egypt and Sudan over its $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo has said could threaten its main supply of water. "All flights have been banned to secure the dam," the director-general of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, Wesenyeleh Hunegnaw, told Reuters by phone. He declined to give more details on the reasons. Last week, air force chief Major General Yilma Merdasa told local media…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia tells U.N. ‘no intention’ of using dam to harm Egypt, Sudan

NEWS

ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has the United Nations that his country has "no intention" of harming Sudan and Egypt with a giant hydropower dam on the Blue Nile that has caused a bitter water dispute between the three countries. Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan failed to strike a deal on the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam before Ethiopia began filling the reservoir behind the dam in July. But the three states have returned to African Union-led mediation. "I want to make it abundantly clear that we have no intention to harm these countries," he told the 193-member U.N.…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Record floods cause deaths and widespread damage in Sudan

NEWS

KHALID ABDELAZIZ FLOOD waters in Sudan have reached the highest levels on record, killing dozens of people, destroying thousands of homes and encroaching on some neighbourhoods of the capital Khartoum. The flooding comes despite Ethiopia starting to fill the reservoir behind a giant new dam upstream on the Blue Nile in July. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is expected to help Sudan control future floods. Flooding regularly hits Sudan in summer, but this year's unprecedented water levels have left larger tracts of farmland submerged and residents around Khartoum are looking anxiously outside their homes for fear of the rising…