NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 10— Egypt has condemned Ethiopia’s inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), describing it as a unilateral action that violates international law and undermines the rights of downstream nations.
In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, Dr. Badr Abdel Aati, said Addis Ababa’s move to announce the completion and operation of the multi-billion-dollar dam disregards established international norms.
“Despite all flimsy efforts to give the Ethiopian dam a false veneer of acceptance and legitimacy, the dam remains a unilateral measure that violates international law and norms,” Abdel Aati said, stressing that Ethiopia’s actions “produce no legal consequences” affecting the governance of the Eastern Nile Basin.
Construction of the GERD began in 2011, and the project is designed to generate 5,150 megawatts of electricity, making it the largest hydropower plant in Africa and among the 20 largest globally.
Four turbines are now in operation, producing a combined 1,550 MW, with output set to gradually scale up to full capacity.
Cairo reiterated its longstanding rejection of what it views as Ethiopia’s “unilateralism” in the use of Nile waters, noting that the GERD project has proceeded despite the absence of a binding agreement with downstream states Egypt and Sudan.
The Minister accused Ethiopia of pursuing “intransigent positions” and using the project as a political tool to mobilize its domestic audience “against an imaginary enemy,” under the pretext of sovereignty over the Nile, which he described as “joint property of its riparian states.”
Egypt stressed it has exercised restraint over the years by relying on diplomacy and international organizations, including the UN, not because of weakness but out of a conviction in the importance of cooperation among Nile Basin countries.
However, Cairo warned it will not compromise its “existential interests” tied to the river and reserves the right to take “all measures guaranteed by international law and the UN Charter” to defend its people.
The Egyptian rebuke came just hours after Ethiopia held a high-profile inauguration ceremony for the $5 billion GERD, which Addis Ababa has hailed as a transformative project for energy security and regional development.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in his address noted that, “Ethiopia built the dam to prosper, to electrify the entire region and to change the history of black people.”
Kenyan President William Ruto, who was the chief guest at the event, expressed Nairobi’s support for constructive engagement among Nile Basin states.
He framed the dam as a shared opportunity rather than a regional threat.
“No country should be denied the opportunity to unlock a huge resource like the one that we are launching today because indeed it becomes a shared resource,” Ruto said, calling on Nile states to sustain dialogue and cooperation.
Ruto emphasized that Kenya recognizes the Nile’s “centrality to the lives and livelihoods of millions,” stressing the need for equity, mutual respect, and collective stewardship of trans-boundary resources.
The GERD, Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam, has long been a source of tension.
Ethiopia sees it as a national symbol of progress, while Egypt and Sudan fear its impact on water security downstream.
As Ethiopia celebrated what it calls a milestone for self-reliance and regional integration, Egypt doubled down on its rejection of unilateral measures — setting the stage for renewed diplomatic friction over the future of the Nile.
