The Ethiopian government announced on Monday the completion of the work to fill the reservoir of the dam, it is building on the Blue Nile River, amid tensions with Egypt and Sudan, which have sharply criticized Addis Ababa for carrying out these operations for the second consecutive year without an agreement on the matter.
“Today, July 19, 2021, the reservoir of the Grand Renaissance Dam has reached its maximum water level. Right now, the incoming flow is passing through the lower and upper points,” Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Seleshi Bekele, has detailed.
“This year we are experiencing extreme rainfall in the Blue Nile basin, this has caused the reservoir to fill rapidly.” he said through a series of messages posted on his official account on the social network Twitter.
Seleshi said that the dam “is an infrastructural asset that acts as a guardian against climate change for downstream countries” and added that “it also seeks greater joint development and prosperity, without being a threat”.
“The next milestone in the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam is to achieve electricity generation over the next few months – congratulations to the people of Ethiopia!” the minister concluded. But still now there is no official reaction from the governments of Egypt and Sudan.
The United Nations expressed its readiness on July 8 to help the governments of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan reach an agreement on the dam amid rising tensions, and called for “political will” from the parties to reach a deal satisfactory to all countries.
