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Four Heads of States from the region attended the ceremony at Guba, GERD project site
Borkena
Toronto – Ethiopia on Tuesday officially inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD.)
“The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam stands complete! A testament to Ethiopia’s resolve and a beacon for Africa’s future,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote on his social media page.
The official ceremony was held in Guba, the project site in the Benihsangul Gumuz region of Ethiopia. Four heads of states from the Horn of Africa, and one from the Caribbean.
Djibouti’s president Ismail Omar Guelleh, Kenyan President William Ruto, Somalian President Hassen Sheikh Momhammed and South Sudan Salva Kirr.
From the Caribbean, Prime Minister Mia Motley attended as well. In her speech during the ceremony, she hailed the project saying “this is the Adwa of engineering – funded by the people, for the people. We must emancipate ourselves.”
From multilateral institutions, the African Union Chair person, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, was in attendance.
Former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegne and his deputy Demeke Mekonnen attended the Guba ceremony as well.
What do we know about GERD?
It took more than 14 years to complete the GERD project. The Hydro-electric dam was initially designed to generate over 6000 MW of power from 16 turbines.
However, the number of turbines was later reduced to 13. The amount of electric power it generates was reduced to under 5500 due to the reduction of turbines.
The reservoir is said to have a holding capacity of over 74 million cubic meters of water and stretches over 200 kilometers. The main dam is said to have over 145 meters of height.
The project is said to have cost over $5 billion. It was entirely funded from local sources including from bond sales and contributions from the public. Recently, U.S. president Donald Trump made a claim that the U.S. funded the project. However, the claim is not substantiated with evidence.
Resistance from Egypt
Egypt has been disputing the construction of the dam. Following the failures of the many rounds of negotiations and talks, it has been threatening to take action. Its diplomatic campaign, including with support from the Arab League did not bear fruit.
Egypt continued its dispute even after the completion of the dam. It has reportedly submitted a letter of complaints to the United Nations opposing the official inauguration.
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For me, the inauguration of this dam is doubly satisfying. When I was a student in the 1960’s in the Middle East, Nasser must have gotten the wind drifting from Addis that the late Emperor was having his engineers and a foreign company taking surveys for a possibility of a dam on the Nile at the current site. I later found out that a detailed survey was done there on the current site but the Emperor was not able to source out and secure outside funding for the project. There was uproar in the media and in the palace of Nasser. Then one of my classmates started telling me how Egypt’s defense forces were invincible that Field Marshall Hakim will only need to send one or two of his jets to wipe the emperor and his people from the face of the earth. I was wondering how Hakim rven got the title of a field marshal without winning a single war anyway. Also that was at the time when there was news about his pilots being unable to fly their jets back to their bases. Also it was the time when his invincible army was not able to defeat a ragtag peasant militia during the North Yemen conflict then. Hakim was taking a licking in Yemen so bad that he used banned chemical weapon on them. Can you imagine the licking he would be taking if he dared to send his army to Ethiopia? But he was smart enough not to do just that. That classmate was telling me to call the emperor advising him not to think or even dream about building a dam on the Blue Nile. So I got tired of his nonsensical diatribe and told him to call the emperor himself. Then the 6-day war erupted and you can read all about it in the history books to find out what happened. The entire Egyptian air force was wiped out in less than half an hour. Less than 300 Israeli soldiers overpowered to take the entire army corps(more than 15,000 armed to the teeth soldiers) without a single bullet being fired by Hakim’s ‘fearless in parades’ soldiers. Boy, did I get my break from that big mouth!!! Then there was this rumor spreading like a wild fire in the hoods and back alleys of al-Qahirah(Cairo) where the ‘feared’ pilots were when their jets were wiped out in less than 30 minutes left parked out in the open for every trained eye to see. It was said that Hakim’s pilots were having an all night orgy with their freshly imported ladies from the Caucasus, Azerbaijan in all. Then the ‘Field Marshal’ committed suicide at some joint in his barracks. Soon after that Nasser resorted to providing military and logistic aids on steroids to the predecessors of Al-Toweel and himself later. I am not making this up. Al-Toweel himself would be very proud to tell you all about it. Nasser and all of his successors are smart enough to know their fate if they try to send an army to the old country. The old country is naturally constructed for a single and multiple envelopment of the war game, and a 1960’s early version of Xbox Call of Duty, man!!!. Can you imagine seeing a halawa drunk Egyptian soldier walking around the Chercher (Cercer) Mountains or the escarpments of Tigray or the northern highlands of the Amhara region on his way to the dam? Just picture that. All you need is unleash your aggressive dogs, man!!! That would have been a rout, man!!!! Not even by our so gallant men and women but just by mad as hell pit bulls, rottweilers, dobermans, cane corsos and wolf dogs, dude!!!! Nuff said!!! I told you not to start with me about Egypt and her silly obsession with the Nile.
I watched the inauguration ceremony on YouTube and I broke down in tears from sheer and overwhelming joy. I fell down at the feet of The Almighty and thanked Him for Blessing me to live this long to see and savor this day. Alhamdulillah!
For now, I feel like I’m a young kid again at the candy store. All of you Ethiopia haters in Tennessee, Michigan, LA, Minnesota, Toronto, Oslo and Down Under! This is for you! Na nana nanah!!!!
In the middle of all the joy I am basking in about the completion and inauguration of the dam. I couldn’t help it but feel saddened by the absence of officials representing another kin and kit neighbors. Djibouti was there with its president. Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan were all there with their leaders. Even a faraway nation of Eswatini was overwhelmed by joy that it had sent its representative to be part of the momentous day. I can understand Sudan’s absence but I could not bear the sadness I felt with the no-show of the leaders of our very dear Eritrean brothers and sisters. If the reason is that they were not invited, shame on the Ethiopian government. If they were invited but the leaders in Asmara turned the invitation down, then big shame on them. It is unfortunate and very sad indeed.
One of the most moving scenes during the inauguration of the dam was when The President of Somalia Brother Hassan Sheikh Mohamud joining other honorary guests in starting one of the turbines. His speech was a masterpiece and to the point telling all parties not to pursue a zero sum approach. I said ‘Right on Brother, right on!!!’ I call upon the elders of my Oromos in the country to ‘moggaasize”(one of ours)’ Brother Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.