Nile dam: Ethiopia's flagship project worries neighbors

It will be 1,800 meters long, 145 meters high and was designed to hold 74 billion cubic meters of water.

When completed and put into operation, the Great Renaissance Dam (Gerd) will be Africa's largest hydropower infrastructure.

An old Ethiopian dream, of which the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had announced the start, thanks to a national subscription, in the spring of 2011. Ultimately, the dam is supposed to generate 6,450 megawatts and support the development of this poor country, including 65 % of the population currently does not have access to electricity, as does that of its neighbors.

But after a decade of work, accumulated delays and fruitless talks, it has above all become the source of recurring tensions between countries bordering a river whose watershed is home to 440 million inhabitants.

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Tumult around the great dam on the Nile

The Ethiopian authorities, accused of placing their neighbors in front of a fait accompli, justify the unilateral construction of the dam by necessity

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