Ethiopia Made No Deal to Seek Permission to Generate Power from Dam, Says Water Expert

Addis Ababa, February 23/2022 /ENA/ Ethiopia made no deal with anyone to ask for permission to start power generation from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Water Administration Consultant Fekahmed Negash said.

It is to be recalled that following the official commencement of partial power generation of the GERD last week, the lower riparian countries have accused Ethiopia of breaching the Declaration of Principles (DoP) signed by Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan in 2015.

However, the well informed Ethiopian water expert Fekahmed Negash told ENA that there is no article in the DoP that prohibits Ethiopia from generating power.

 "Article 5 of the DoP stipulates that the three countries will agree on guidelines in parallel with the construction of GERD," Fekahmed said, adding that "outside of this the principle doesn’t state about agreement on filling the dam."

The construction process would be carried out in parallel means that it includes filling, dam release of water, and power generation, the expert explained.

Hence, there is no deal that prohibits Ethiopia from filling the dam and power generation. Instead, the DoP grants the right to take measures of its own if it doesn’t agree with the principles to start fill the dam, release water and generate power, the expert added.

According to Fekahmed, the Declaration of Principles (DoP) signed by the three countries seven years ago has intentionally been wrongly interpreted by Egypt and Sudan.

The countries are deliberately interpreting the principles on order to maintain the 1929 and 1959 deals that were designed to solely utilize the water for their benefits.

He noted that both are well aware of the fact that the power generation of GERD would not significantly affect their interests.