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Ethiopia has come to the end of the second phase of infilling of its controversial Nile mega-mooring. The latter, supposed to become the largest hydroelectric infrastructure in Africa when completed, is at the origin of a diplomatic conflict between Addis Ababa and the countries downstream, Egypt and Sudan.
Ethiopia has successfully completed the second phase of filling its megabarrage on the Nile, a source of tensions with its two neighbors located downstream on the river, Sudan and Egypt, an official told AFP on Monday. Ethiopian.
“The first filling was carried out last year, the second is now completed and will be formally announced today or tomorrow,” the official assured AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the quantity of he stored water was now sufficient for energy production.
The “Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam” (Gerd) has been a bone of contention with the Sudanese and the Egyptians, both dependent on the Nile for their water resources, since the launch of the project in 2011.
Discussions initiated under the aegis of the African Union (AU) did not allow the three countries to reach a tripartite agreement on the filling of the dam and on the modalities of operation of the water reservoirs.
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Cairo and Khartoum had asked Addis Ababa to postpone filling the dam pending an agreement.
The United Nations Security Council took up the matter on July 8 to negotiate an agreement, but Ethiopia diplomatically rejected the initiative, deeming “regrettable to note that the progress of the negotiations has been slowed down and politicized” .
“Ethiopia has made it clear on many occasions that bringing the subject before the United Nations Security Council was and remains unnecessary and far from the Council’s mandate,” the Ethiopian foreign ministry said last Tuesday.
In July 2020, Ethiopia announced that it had met its goal of storing 4.9 billion m3 of water and planned a second phase at 13.5 billion m3.
There is now enough water to put the first two turbines of the dam into operation, the Ethiopian official told AFP without giving a specific date for the start of electricity production.
With AFP