Ethiopia’s new Nile dam sparks regional debate — but also marks a bold leap toward clean power, self-reliance, and climate resilience in Africa.

Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), one of Africa’s most ambitious infrastructure projects, is once again in the spotlight — not just for regional disputes, but for its potential to redefine the continent’s energy future.

While concerns over water flow and seasonal flooding persist, Ethiopia’s determination to harness the Nile’s power stands as a powerful symbol of progress, sustainability, and regional transformation.

The GERD, officially inaugurated in September, represents a monumental effort to ensure clean, renewable electricity for millions of Africans. As Africa’s largest hydroelectric project, the dam has the capacity to generate over 5,000 megawatts of power, lighting up homes, schools, and industries across Ethiopia and its neighbors.

This green energy push aligns with global climate goals, reducing dependency on fossil fuels and driving forward a low-carbon economy in the region.

A Symbol of Progress and Independence

For decades, Ethiopia has faced energy shortages that have hindered development. The GERD now promises to change that narrative. By using the power of the Blue Nile, Ethiopia aims to supply affordable electricity not only domestically but also to neighboring countries like Sudan and Kenya, strengthening regional cooperation and economic ties.

This project is also a major stride toward self-reliance. Ethiopia’s leadership views the dam as a cornerstone of its national pride — an African-built solution to African challenges.

Thousands of local engineers, construction workers, and scientists have contributed to making this massive project a reality, demonstrating Africa’s growing expertise in sustainable technology.

Balancing Nature and Development

Although seasonal flooding has reignited old tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia, experts emphasize that the GERD’s operations can be managed through cooperative frameworks.

Ethiopia has repeatedly assured that the dam is not meant to harm downstream nations but to foster shared prosperity through regulated water flow and energy production.

Regional dialogue remains essential, and international observers encourage renewed diplomatic engagement between Cairo, Addis Ababa, and Khartoum to develop transparent water-sharing agreements.

Rather than viewing the dam as a threat, many analysts argue it should be seen as an opportunity for collaboration on climate adaptation, flood control, and drought management.

A Catalyst for Climate Action

Beyond the political discourse, the GERD stands as a key weapon in the global fight against climate change. Hydropower is one of the cleanest energy sources, and Ethiopia’s investment sets an example for developing nations striving to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs).

By reducing carbon emissions, boosting renewable capacity, and supporting rural electrification, the GERD complements broader environmental efforts across Africa — from solar energy expansion in Kenya to wind projects in Morocco.

The vision is clear: a continent powered by its natural resources, moving toward a greener and more equitable future.

Human Stories of Hope

For communities in Ethiopia’s countryside, the dam represents more than megawatts — it represents opportunity. Reliable electricity means better irrigation for farmers, improved access to healthcare and education, and thriving local businesses.

In villages once reliant on kerosene lamps, light now shines through clean hydropower, symbolizing transformation and hope.

As Africa continues to face climate-related challenges — from droughts to floods — projects like GERD remind the world that sustainable innovation is not only possible but essential.

Ethiopia’s leadership in this sphere is inspiring a wave of new green investments across the continent.

A Shared Future on the Nile

The Nile has long been a lifeline for millions across Africa. Instead of division, its waters can serve as a bridge toward unity and shared prosperity.

With dialogue, trust, and science-driven policy, Ethiopia and Egypt can turn contention into cooperation, ensuring both nations benefit from the river’s vast potential.

As Ethiopia’s turbines spin and the lights come on across new regions, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam stands as a testament to what vision, resilience, and sustainability can achieve.

It’s not just a dam — it’s a declaration that Africa’s future will be powered by innovation, collaboration, and climate-conscious progress.

In the 10 countries that the Nile runs through, the river is not just a source of water, but also of energy

Running from Uganda to Egypt, the Nile is essential to the survival of millions of people living in Africa. But a combination of climate change and human overuse is drying up the river, and worsening conditions for farmers who fear low harvests and loss of electricity. 

Dalia Ziada

Adding the religious component to this ugly dispute is a very dangerous gamble that the Ethiopian government need to stop playing.

The Ethiopian government is purposefully involving religious rhetoric into justifying its technical dispute over the Nile River with Egypt and Sudan. The reasons why Abiy Ahmed government decided to Islamize the Nile River conflict, by employing government loyalist Muslim imams to promote a political agenda, in a Christian majority society, are worth exploring.

For years, the Ethiopian government of Abiy Ahmed has been promoting the building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as a nationalist cause. The government’s unrealistic rhetoric around the political and economic benefits that GERD may incur to the Ethiopian nation is serving the political interests of the ruling elite. On one hand, it justifies the huge spending on the building of the dam, while the Ethiopian people are struggling with a drowning economy. On the other hand, it provides Abiy Ahmed with a cover to his atrocities against civilians in Tigray and his failure in managing the border conflict with Sudan. In addition, this fanatic nationalist rhetoric is serving the purpose of mobilizing the Ethiopian citizens to vote for Abiy Ahmed and his affiliate politicians, in the current general elections, despite their proven failure in running state affairs and Ethiopia’s deteriorating relations with its neighbors.

Unfortunately, the diplomatic negotiations over the Nile River conflict between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, which has been running for over a decade, hit a deadlock in April. Egypt is the downstream country, while Ethiopia is geographically located where the river springs, and Sudan geographically stands in the Middle. Egypt and Sudan object the building of GERD on the Blue Nile because it affects their share in the water of the river. Government propagandists, in the Ethiopian media, unfairly portray Egypt as an aggressor on Ethiopia’s sovereignty for merely trying to get Ethiopia to sign a binding agreement that protects downstream countries from the potential abuse of GERD by the current or future Ethiopian governments.

For the international audience, Ethiopia justifies the building of the dam by the need to generate electricity for about 65% of the population. For the local audience, the Ethiopian government promotes a strange lie, supported by religious leaders, that the Nile is a gift from God to Ethiopia, and thus Ethiopia is the legitimate solo owner of the Nile. In that sense, they claim that Ethiopia can hold the water behind a dam to sell it later to other countries and become rich, the same way Arab Gulf countries profited from selling the oil discovered in their geographic territories.

After the failure of negotiations in April, Egypt and Sudan started to seriously think about going to war with Ethiopia. In March, Egypt signed a military cooperation agreement with Sudan, followed by a joint military exercise at Merwoe military base, in southern Sudan, close to Ethiopian GERD. In late May, Egypt and Sudan conducted another military exercise, in southern Sudan, under the title “Nile Protectors” wherein Egypt deployed land forces and advanced aviation equipment to deter Ethiopia from resuming with filling the dam, which was scheduled to take place, in early June. Meanwhile, Egypt signed other military cooperation agreements with Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi.

Amidst the heated political and military tensions, leaders of the Ethiopian Muslim community, have been actively producing fatwas (religious advices) to mobilize the Muslim citizens to support the building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). In March, Sheikh Haji Omar Idris, the Grand Mufti of Ethiopia, made up a fatwa claiming that Ethiopia is the God-assigned owner of the Nile water, and accordingly Egypt has no right to ask for using the water that springs outside of its geographic area.

“The Egyptians say that they are affected by Ethiopia’s use of the Nile water. This is not fair and is against the teachings of Islamic Sharia”, advised Sheikh Haji Omar Idris, the Grand Mufti of Ethiopia and the President of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council. “Sharia has proven that the country in which the water springs, must benefit from it, then give what exceeds its needs to its neighbors, if it desires to”. During the prayers of Eid Al-Fitr, in May, several Ethiopian youths showed up carrying slogans and banners reading that it is Ethiopia’s Allah-given right to block and sell the water of the Nile.

Idris based his misleading fatwa on a saying by Prophet Muhammed. However, the Egyptian Fatwa House (Dar Al-Iftaa), in May, refuted such claims and published a prophetic saying confirming that naturally flowing water cannot be owned by anyone, as it is a common share among all humans. Then, on June 12th, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, seized the opportunity of his participation in the United Nations Environment Day, to indirectly comment on the Nile River conflict.

“Environment is in crisis, because of those tampering with Allah’s creations and lands… It is inappropriate to let an individual or a country practice monopoly over natural resources and deprive others from getting access to these resources”, said the Grand Imam in his UN speech. “Water, in its comprehensive concept, is a natural resource that is treated as a common property to all humans, according to the teachings of all religions, not only Islam. No one can exclusively own a water resource. Depriving others from benefiting from natural resources is an act of oppression and aggression on Allah’s provisions”, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb added, calling upon respective local, regional, and international bodies to appropriately intervene to stop such manipulation that is expected to harm humans and the Planet Earth.

Al-Azhar is the highest religious authority in the Muslim world. While the Grand Imam’s message was widely applauded by the Egyptian and Arab audience, some western audience could not understand the background story that pushed a senior religious scholar to comment on a geopolitical conflict. In fact, Al-Azhar’s comment is a necessary reaction to the shameful abuse of religion by the Ethiopian government to justify endangering the lives of tens of millions of humans in downstream countries by building a dam on the upstream of the Blue Nile.

It is strange to see the Ethiopian Muslim leaders, who have always been keeping a low-profile, all of a sudden involved in public activities and commenting on geopolitical issues. But there is a reason for that. They are paying back the favor to Abiy Ahmed. For decades, the Muslim citizens in Ethiopia suffered from marginalization, discrimination, and persecution on the hands of the government and other religious groups, especially during the communist era of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Ethiopian Muslims have been denied basic rights to declare their religious identity or practice their religious ceremonies and prayers in public. That is despite their relatively large percentage as a religious group. Muslims in Ethiopia, who represent nearly 35% of the population; are the second-largest religious community in the country.

Only in January 2020, Abiy Ahmed government recognized the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, after sixty years of working as an outlawed civil society organization. This provided Muslim citizens with a relief as they have become free to show their identity and celebrate their religion. This is a move that Abiy Ahmed government should be applauded for. However, on the flip side, it seems that Abiy Ahmed had another strategic goal from empowering the Muslim community amidst his quest to continue with the GERD project.

Recognizing and empowering the Muslim community, first brought the Muslim community to support Abiy Ahmed rather than joining the opposition against him. They are now part of his propaganda machine, mobilizing millions of Muslim citizens to support the government decisions and vote for Abiy Ahmed’s favorite politicians in elections. Second, Abiy Ahmed is employing the politicized religious rhetoric of his Imams to confuse the public citizens in Muslim-majority countries, Egypt and Sudan, regarding the legitimacy of the stances of their governments on the Nile conflict. Most of the misleading fatwas issued by Ethiopian Imams, in relation to GERD, are published in Arabic; not in English or Swahili or Amharic.

The Nile River conflict has become too complicated and almost impossible to resolve through regular diplomatic means. Adding the religious component to this ugly dispute is a very dangerous gamble that the Ethiopian government need to stop playing. This does not only threaten the security of Ethiopia, but also provides a new tool for terrorist organizations operating at the already security-fragile Horn of Africa region, to revive their activities and recruit new supporters.

Article first published on Majalla.

Egypt and Sudan demand a legally binding agreement on the dam’s filling and operation, whereas Ethiopia insists on guidelines.

The river Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world which travels the distance of 6,000 Kilometers through dozens of East African countries to empty into the Mediterranean Sea. 

River Nile is an essential source of water and electricity of several countries in East Africa. 

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

The tension between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia began with the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile in 2011. GERD will be the largest hydroelectric power plant project in the Africa when completed with the capacity of generating 6,400 megawatts of electricity, its primary purpose is to produce electricity to deal with the electricity shortage in Ethiopia and to export electricity to the neighboring countries. 

However, Egypt and Sudan claim that the filling of the Dam would violate their water rights as it’s going to cause water shortage for them, as they are heavily dependent on the river Nile for cultivating crops and other essential uses. Egypt gets almost 90% of its fresh water from River Nile, hence the Dam is considered an existential threat to the Egypt, while Sudan is concerned about the operation of its own Nile dam and water stations. 

On the 6^th of July, Egyptian authorities said it has received an official notice from Ethiopia that it has started the next phase of filling the Dam raising tensions once again between the three countries. Ethiopian authorities had said previously that they would resume the filling in the month of July and August at the times of heavy rainfalls. “The next filling takes place only during heavy rainfall months of July/August”, said Abiy Ahmed Ali, the prime minister of the federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee at the parliament Karim Darwish said, “Ethiopia’s second filling of the Renaissance Dam threatens international peace and security”, said Karim Darwish Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee at the parliament.

Issue of Egyptian and Sudanese National Security

“Egypt has always emphasized its keenness to achieve development in Ethiopia without harming Egypt and Sudan’s water rights, which is something that can be achieved if there are intentions and responsibility”, He added.

The Head of Foreign Affairs of the Representatives concluded his statements that the Egyptian political leadership has repeatedly stressed that “the Egyptian rights will not be diminished or harmed, and that the water issue is an issue of both Egyptian and Sudanese national security”.

Whereas Ethiopia claims that the filling of the Dam will not only help Ethiopia to deal with its electricity problems but also to help Sudan prevent floods. “Heavy rains last year enabled successful 1st filling of the GERD while the presence of the GERD itself has undoubtedly prevented severe flooding in neighbouring Sudan”, said Abiy Ahmed Ali, the prime minister of the federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in his tweet.

“Ethiopia, in developing Abbay River for its needs, has no intention of causing harm to lower riparian countries”, he added in his tweet. 

Ethiopia has continued with the filling of the dam twice this summer now without the deal in the UN security Council. According to the Reuters, Ethiopia isn’t keen on security council involvement and instead asked the involved authorities to discuss the issue within the African Union. Reuters also added that Ethiopia previously rejected calls from Egypt and Sudan to involve mediators outside African Union. 

Egypt and Sudan demand a legally binding agreement on the dam’s filling and operation, whereas Ethiopia insists on guidelines. The concerns of the countries involve how much water will Ethiopia release downstream if a multiyear drought occurs, how would they settle any future disputes, and Sudan asks Ethiopia to coordinate and share the data on the dam’s operation so that in case of emergency it could protect its own power-generating dams on the Blue Nile. 

Saudi Arabia’s support for Egypt

Amidst the heightened tensions, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expressed their support with the Egypt and Sudan, the statement said, “The Kingdom calls on the international community to intensify efforts to find a clear mechanism to start negotiations between the three countries to get out of the crisis, in line with their interests and the interests of the Nile Basim countries and the future of the people of the region, according to international auspices and in agreement with the African Union and the Arab League”.

Ahead of the UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, Tunisia has reportedly submitted a draft resolution for Ethiopia to halt its filling of a dam. The document is aimed to push for a binding agreement between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt on the operations of the dam.  

A senior Ethiopian diplomat told Reuters that the draft resolution would “effectively scuttle” an African Union-led mediation process between the three countries, and Ethiopia was working to make sure that it would not be adopted. 

“Ethiopia does not believe the matter falls within the purview of the council”, he added on the condition of anonymity. 

Jaafar Siddiqui earned Bachelors in Journalism from the University of Hertfordshire — United Kingdom. He writes for The Milli Chronicle on Business, Politics, and Culture.