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The Renaissance Dam – a national symbol but a regional quandary
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam construction. © Gioia Forster/DPA/Picture-alliance/Newscom/MaxPPP

Running story
The Renaissance Dam – a national symbol but a regional quandary

Although the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is due to come into service in 2021, no agreement has yet been found by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan regarding their respective rights to the waters of the River Nile. For nearly a decade, the great Ethiopian dam has been a source of tension between the three countries. Ethiopia sees the €4bn project, which has been entirely financed by Ethiopian taxpayers but has not yet been completed, as a means of making itself self-sufficient in energy and affirming its power in the region.

The Renaissance Dam – a national symbol but a regional quandary
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam construction. © Gioia Forster/DPA/Picture-alliance/Newscom/MaxPPP

Ethiopia, Uganda
Kampala and Addis sketch out military rapprochement

Ugandan and Ethiopian military commanders met at the beginning of July to discuss military cooperation in the fields of training, intelligence, financing and the defence industry.

LogoSubscribers only Defence 19.07.2024

Inner circles | Ethiopia
Ethiopian Olympic Committee boss Ashebir Woldegiorgis aims high

With the Paris Olympics just around the corner, the multi-faceted and well-connected businessman is set on not disappointing PM Abiy Ahmed.

The Ethiopian Olympic Committee president, Ashebir Woldegiorgis.
LogoSubscribers only Politics 21.06.2024
The Ethiopian Olympic Committee president, Ashebir Woldegiorgis.

Djibouti, Ethiopia
Second Djibouti-Ethiopia electricity link takes shape

The German engineering group Gopa Intec was selected for the job on 21 April.

LogoSubscribers only Infrastructure 09.05.2024

Ethiopia
Government short of cash to pay GERD contractors

Work on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the River Nile, which has been entirely self-financed by government bonds, could shortly suffer new delays.

LogoSubscribers only Infrastructure, Energy 22.12.2023

Egypt
Egypt makes major changes in African ambassadorships

Several of Cairo's new representatives will take up their roles in African capitals in the coming weeks. The reshuffle follows the resumption of negotiations over the GERD in July.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Baghdad Airport in Iraq on 27 June 2021.
LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 23.08.2023
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Baghdad Airport in Iraq on 27 June 2021.

Egypt
Egypt bids for regional leadership without the Nile Basin Initiative

Egypt is using a major inland waterway project to try to take on the role of leader on regional cooperation. At the same time, it has withdrawn from the Nile Basin Initiative, where Ethiopia is promoting a new agreement on members' respective rights to the waters of the Nile.

LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 21.12.2022

Egypt
Cairo-Khartoum GERD commission back in business

Frozen for four years, the Egyptian-Sudanese commission on the waters of the Nile is up and running again. This joint committee allows Cairo to align Khartoum with its positions in the tripartite negotiations on the large Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

LogoSubscribers only Infrastructure, Politics 17.10.2022

Egypt, South Sudan
Egyptian moves on White Nile waters divide South Sudanese leaders

Fears over the environmental impact of the dredging of a White Nile tributary by Egypt prompted Silva Kiir in July to put a stop to the project, which has raised fears that it may increase the flow of the Nile downstream.

LogoSubscribers only Infrastructure 27.09.2022

Egypt
Influential ex-negotiator leads Egypt water ministry pending Nile dam talks

Egypt has appointed Hani Sewilam to head its irrigation ministry, a key role in preparing for negotiations with its neighbour over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The hydrologist brings with him influential contacts in Europe and Africa.

LogoSubscribers only Infrastructure, Diplomacy 20.09.2022

Egypt, Ethiopia
Egypt's desalination plant projects are running dry

As Ethiopia continues to fill the GERD dam, threatening as it does so to reduce the flow of the Nile River, Egypt is looking to diversify its water supply. But these projects are still marginal, and plans for desalination plants have been scaled back due to the economic crisis.

LogoSubscribers only Infrastructure 09.09.2022

Ethiopia
Stifled by rising oil prices, Ethiopia's private sector turns to solar

Every year Ethiopia uses more than 30% of its oil imports to generate electricity. With oil prices soaring, local industry and agriculture are looking for new sources of power.

LogoSubscribers only Energy 05.09.2022

Egypt
Egypt's top GERD specialist heads to Abu Dhabi

Egypt has a knack for picking its best diplomats to tackle the challenges at hand, as illustrated by its latest choice of new ambassador to the UAE.

LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 01.09.2022

Egypt, Ethiopia
Responsibility for GERD bounced back to Sameh Shoukry

With the Ethiopian rainy season approaching and the third-stage filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reservoir announced, a new period of tension between Egypt, and the Blue Nile neighbouring countries of Ethiopia and Sudan is looming.

LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 20.06.2022

Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, UAE
In mediator roles, crown princes MbS and MbZ jostle for influence in the Horn

Over the past year, UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan has actively sought to bring together Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, while his Saudi counterpart Mohammed bin Salman for his part, has been fostering ties with Addis Ababa.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (l) meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (r) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 8 December 2021.
LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 26.04.2022
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (l) meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (r) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 8 December 2021.

Spotlight | East Africa
UAE's new minister for Africa dives into Nile maelstrom

Soon after Sheikh Shakhboot became the Emirati minister for African affairs in February last year he took on the hot potato of Ethiopia's vast GERD dam. This gives the young diplomat a perfect opportunity to demonstrate his abilities on an issue that affects two of the UAE's traditional allies.

The Emirati minister for African affairs Shakhboot bin Nahyan al-Nahyan.
LogoSubscribers only Energy, Diplomacy 05.04.2022
The Emirati minister for African affairs Shakhboot bin Nahyan al-Nahyan.

Africa, Ethiopia, Senegal
Macky Sall launches plans for Renaissance dam roadmap

With only a few months to go before the dam's third reservoir is filled over the next rainy season, the pressure is weighing on the Senegalese president's shoulders. Sall, who is also the chairman of the Africa Union, knows his input on the decade-old thorny issue will be particularly scrutinised.

LogoSubscribers only Energy, Diplomacy 22.03.2022

Ethiopia
Abiy bets the house on deceptive upticks

The Ethiopian prime minister dropped some economic bombshells earlier this week, pinning his hopes for an unexpected political boost on modest improvements in a few indicators. But behind the rosier numbers hides a gloomier reality.

LogoSubscribers only Business 25.02.2022

Egypt, Horn of Africa
Abdelfattah al-Sisi's very personal diplomacy in the Horn

The Egyptian president snubbed an African Union summit and instead attended the Beijing Olympics in the company of his financial sponsor, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Sisi is continuing his strategy of encircling his Ethiopian rival and consolidating his position in Sudan and Djibouti.

Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi (right) welcomed his Djiboutian counterpart Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (IOG) in Cairo, 7 February 2022.
LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 14.02.2022
Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi (right) welcomed his Djiboutian counterpart Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (IOG) in Cairo, 7 February 2022.

Egypt, Senegal
Macky Sall expected to meet Sisi in Cairo

The president of Senegal Macky Sall will travel to Cairo in mid-January to meet with his counterpart Abdelfattah al-Sisi, with whom he will discuss the upcoming Senegalese presidency of the African Union (AU).

LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 03.01.2022

Egypt
Let down by Tshisekedi, Sisi turns to Sall, the next AU chair, for GERD support

Egypt isn't biding its time until the African Union's rotating chair passes to Senegal next year before soliciting its backing over Ethiopia's massive dam.

Macky Sall, Senegal's president and Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt's president.
LogoSubscribers only Diplomacy 06.10.2021
Macky Sall, Senegal's president and Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt's president.

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