Ethiopia to fill dam despite impasse

ADDIS ABABA. – Ethiopia said yesterday it would not be deterred from impounding water at its Nile mega-dam, despite a persistent impasse with downstream countries worried about their water supply.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been a source of tension in the Nile River basin ever since Ethiopia broke ground on it in 2011.

Downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan view the dam as a threat because of their dependence on Nile waters, while Ethiopia considers it essential for its electrification and development.

The latest round of talks concluded on Tuesday in Kinshasa with no resolution to long-running disputes over how the dam will be operated.

But Ethiopian water minister Seleshi Bekele told a press conference yesterday that Ethiopia would continue filling the dam’s massive reservoir during the upcoming rainy season, which normally begins in June or July.

“As construction progresses, filling takes place. We don’t deviate from that at all,” Seleshi said. The reservoir has a capacity of 74 billion cubic metres.

Filling began last year, with Ethiopia announcing in July 2020 it had hit its target of 4.9 billion cubic metres – enough to test the dam’s first two turbines, an important milestone to producing energy.

The goal is to impound an additional 13.5 billion cubic metres this year.

Egypt and Sudan wanted a trilateral agreement on the dam’s operations to be reached before reservoir filling began. – Africanews.