Tuesday September 9, 2025
Addis Ababa (HOL) — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
joined Kenyan President William Ruto and Djiboutian President Ismaïl Omar
Guelleh on Tuesday for the official inauguration of Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa’s largest hydroelectric project.
The ceremony, held at the dam site in Guba on the Blue Nile,
featured an Ethiopian fighter jet flying low over the mist from the dam’s
plunging 170-meter (558-foot) drop.
The $5 billion project, which began generating power in
2022, has now reached its full capacity of 5,150 megawatts, placing it among
the 20 largest hydroelectric dams worldwide. Officials say the GERD will
provide electricity to millions of Ethiopians and transform the region’s energy
landscape.
President Mohamud attended the inauguration alongside senior
Somali officials, signaling warming diplomatic ties between Somalia and
Ethiopia despite ongoing regional tensions.
The project, however, has deepened rifts with downstream
Egypt, which relies on the Nile River for about 90% of its fresh water. Cairo
has repeatedly raised concerns that the GERD will threaten its water security.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tamim Khallaf told
Reuters on Monday that Cairo would continue to monitor developments and
“exercise its right to take all the appropriate measures to defend and protect
the interests of the Egyptian people.”
The inauguration comes as Egyptian troops prepare to join
the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia in the coming weeks.
Ethiopian forces are already part of the AU mission, underscoring the
geopolitical complexity of the region.