U.S. Acknowledges GERD as a New Reality, Urges Collaborative Efforts

Addis Ababa (Ethio Monitor) — Advisor to the United States President for African Affairs, Massad Boulos, said the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has become a new reality, stressing the need to promote cooperation across the region.

“GERD has become a new reality,” he said during his interview with Al Jazeera. “Direct dialogue in order to achieve a fair and sustainable settlement that satisfies all parties is important.”

Highlighting the commitment of President Donald Trump’s administration to exert all necessary efforts and provide support, the advisor affirmed that the U.S. is dedicated to fostering a long-term solution that safeguards the interests of the region’s people while promoting stability and collaborative cooperation.

The recently inaugurated hydropower project is regarded as a “dam of dreams” by Ethiopians, though it is perceived as an “existential threat” by Egyptians.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has formally warned the UN Security Council about Ethiopia’s “unilateral actions” concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile.

Cairo affirmed that it “will not allow its water rights to be compromised and will take all measures guaranteed by international law and the UN Charter to defend the existential interests of its people.”

In a statement last week, the Foreign Ministry emphasized Egypt’s categorical rejection of what it described as a blatant violation of international law by Addis Ababa and a challenge to the legal frameworks governing the Eastern Nile Basin.

Despite repeated concerns from Egypt that the now-completed hydropower dam will put the country’s water security at risk, Ethiopia believes it has no intention to harm the downstream countries and instead aims to benefit all neighbors.

“To our neighbors downstream, I want to assure you that we don’t intend to hurt you but to find common prosperity,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday, the day the GERD was inaugurated.

“GERD is not only for Ethiopians; it is for Africa and for all Black people,” he added.

The almost $5 billion mega-dam will generate more than 5,000 megawatts and is expected to double the national electricity generation capacity, according to officials.

“Before GERD, our generation capacity was about 4,900 megawatts, and now it adds 5,150 MW,” said Habtamu Itefa, Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy.

Ethiopia started constructing the dam across a maximum area of 1,874 square kilometers on the Blue Nile in 2011 to secure water resources and export electricity to accelerate its development. Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan’s leaders agreed in 2015 in Khartoum that the construction of the megaproject should not affect the economy, the river flow, or the hydroelectric security of any of the three riparian countries, but there has been disagreement ever since.