The Ethiopian blue dam mega-dam project, which is the subject of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, is causing regional tensions, particularly with Egypt, which is 97% dependent on the river for its water supply.
– Ten countries –
With its 6,695 km, the Nile is, on par with the Amazon, the longest river in the world and a vital source of water and hydraulic power in a largely arid region of Africa.
The Nile basin covers more than three million km2, or 10% of the surface of the African continent, and covers ten countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan , Sudan and Tanzania.
Its annual flow is estimated at 84 billion m3.
The Blue Nile, which rises in Ethiopia, joins the White Nile in Khartoum to form the Nile which crosses Sudan and Egypt before flowing into the Mediterranean.
– Largest dam in Africa –
Launched in 2011 by Ethiopia for an amount of four billion dollars, the project aims to build the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, with a production capacity of more than 6,000 megawatts.
Located on the Blue Nile, about thirty kilometers from the Sudanese border, the Great Renaissance Dam (GERD) is 1.8 kilometers long and 145 meters high.
Ethiopia wants to start commissioning the dam and fill its reservoir in July, with or without the agreement of Egypt and Sudan.
– Water supply –
Egypt, an arid country of nearly 100 million inhabitants, depends on the Nile for around 97% of its water needs, including for its agriculture.
Cairo evokes a “historic right” on the river, guaranteed by a series of treaties since 1929. At the time, Egypt had obtained a right of veto on the construction of projects on the river.
In 1959, after an agreement with Khartoum on the sharing of waters, Egypt allocated a quota of 66% of the annual flow of the Nile, against 22% for Sudan.
But in 2010, a new treaty was signed by the countries of the Nile basin, despite opposition from Egypt and Sudan. It removes the Egyptian veto and authorizes irrigation projects and hydroelectric dams.
– Critical issues –
Ethiopia, an emerging regional power, for whom the project is essential to its development, says that the dam will not disrupt the flow of water.
Egypt is concerned about the rate of filling of the giant GERD reservoir, with a capacity of 74 billion m3. If the reservoir is filled for a short period, the flow of water from the Nile through Egypt could drop sharply.
After nine years of stalling in the negotiations, the United States and the World Bank sponsored discussions from November 2019 aimed at reaching an agreement, which failed.
On June 20, when resumed negotiations were stalled, Cairo called on the UN Security Council to intervene. Egypt views the project as an “existential” threat and Sudan has warned of “great risks” to the lives of millions of people.
While saying it is ready to conclude an agreement, Ethiopia confirmed on Saturday its intention to start filling the reservoir of the dam “in the next two weeks”.
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