Ethiopia Has Legal, Economic Grounds to Seek Redress Over Historical Nile Inequities: Former State Minister

Addis Ababa, September 5, 2026 (ENA)—Ethiopia has legitimate grounds to seek redress for historical economic losses, foregone development opportunities and longstanding inequities in Abay (Nile) River utilization, former State Minister for Irrigation Development, Birhanu Lenjiso said.

Speaking to ENA, Birhanu, co-founder and former Deputy Director of the East African Policy Research Institute (EAPRI), said the issue must be assessed through a new and more equitable framework, as the previous Nile status quo is coming to an end.

He outlined a framework that takes into account historical asymmetries, opportunity costs, benefit-sharing mechanisms, and the economic and environmental value of sustaining the Nile ecosystem.

Explaining the stark disparity, Birhanu noted: “Egypt has been using 85 percent without contributing anything, while Ethiopia uses nothing despite contributing 85 percent of the Nile flow.”

 

As the source of the vast majority of the Nile River’s flow, primarily through the Abay (Blue Nile), Ethiopia devoted for equitable and reasonable utilization.

In that regard, scholars and water experts argue that Ethiopia has legitimate grounds to seek redress for historical economic losses and foregone development opportunities resulting from restrictions on its use of the Nile.

Birhanu, author of “water: Ethiopia’s Gateway to Prosperity,” says the stark gap between Ethiopia’s enormous contribution to the Nile and its historically limited use of its waters raises fundamental questions of equity.

“Ethiopia has contributed enormously to the Nile system while bearing substantial opportunity costs and receiving disproportionately limited benefits,” Birhanu said.

He added that: “That historical imbalance provides a legitimate basis for discussing redress and, where appropriate, compensation.”

However, he stressed that the issue extends beyond financial claims for past losses.

 

“It should not be simplified merely to unfair water use in the past or calculating damages,” he said. “It is equally about the future, rainfall, forests, watershed management, biodiversity restoration, and the opportunity cost Ethiopia incurs by allowing a major share of its water resources to flow downstream without corresponding developmental benefits.”

He called on downstream nations to acknowledge the ecological investments that maintain the river.

Programs like Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative protect basin-wide ecosystems, raising questions about how the financial burden of sustaining these environmental services should be shared, Biruhanu underscored.

Similarly, Birhanu argued that infrastructure like the GERD should be evaluated by its overall strategic benefits, such as regional electricity generation, flow regulation, and lower evaporation rates, rather than strictly by reservoir size.

 

“The fundamental question should not be limited to how many cubic meters of water each country receives,” Birhanu said. “We should also ask what value is generated from the water and how that value can be shared equitably.”

Rather than relying solely on direct financial reparations, Birhanu proposed a framework centered on cross-border investment and development cooperation. Downstream nations could invest in Ethiopia’s groundwater development or irrigation efficiency to meet local needs while easing pressure on surface flows, he noted.

He highlighted hydropower as a key path toward integration, given that power generation uses water non-consumptively, allowing flows to continue downstream uninterrupted. To realize this, he called for joint scientific, environmental, and economic studies across all Nile Basin states.

 He stressed that giving value to the concept is more important than a narrow cubic-metre approach.

“The future of Nile cooperation should be based not simply on dividing water volumes, but on equitably sharing the benefits generated by the entire river system,” Birhanu stated.