 was built with U.S. finance.){kind=link}
Getahun Tsegaye
Staff Reporter
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – President Donald Trump has stated, for the third time in a month, that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) was built with U.S. financial assistance.
President Donald Trump told Republican senators at a White House dinner Friday that the United States had largely financed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), stating, ‘Ethiopia built a dam mostly with American money.’ This was the third time in a month he made this claim.
“ It’s one of the largest dams in the world and it has one little problem. Egypt lives off the Nile River. The Nile River is its blood, its heart, it’s everything and we think we have that one pretty well taken care of but that was a pretty bad thing,” he said.
“I was watching this as it’s going up. It’s massive dam. Is that going to be blocking the water to the Nile. Anyway that shouldn’t have never sort of happened the way it happened but financed by the United States of America and all things. We got that solved. It’s going to be solved pretty long term,” Trump added.
Earlier Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, asserted that the “massive Ethiopian built dam” was “stupidly financed by the United States of America” and “substantially reduces the water flowing into The Nile River.”
Dr. Aregawi Berhe, Director General of the Public Participation Coordination Office for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), strongly refuted claims made by President Donald Trump regarding the dam’s financing.
Speaking to Borkena, Dr. Aregawi firmly stated, “What so far we have known is that the GERD, since 2012, it’s been built by Ethiopia’s people with wealth, labour and skill and financed by the Ethiopian government. Trump’s claim is groundless.” He added, “this is more of international politics and our response won’t suffice his claim and would refer to talking to the government,”he added as reported by Borkena a few weeks ago.
After Trump’s recent statements regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised President Donald Trump for acknowledging that the Nile River is vital to Egypt’s survival.
Trump’s claims have triggered a response from Israel with whom the U.S. has a special relation. On July 15, the Embassy of Ethiopia in Israel posted a statement saying, “A true symbol of national pride! The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) embodies Ethiopia’s sovereignty, resilience, and unity. What makes it even more remarkable? It was fully financed by Ethiopians alone – zero external loans or donors. This dam is a powerful reflection of a nation’s unwavering commitment to its future.” This post has widely been interpreted as a response of the Ethiopian government to what Donald Trump claimed the GERD was fully financed by the United States of America.
“In fact, it’s public knowledge that the GERD has been fully financed by the people of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian government since its inception,” a hydro-politician based in Addis Ababa told Borkena. He added, “President Trump might want to push his ‘unknown’ political agenda, of which the government of Ethiopia should be vigilant.”
He further stated that Ethiopia contributes 85% of the Nile River’s waters and has the right to use its resources without compromising the lower riparian states, Sudan and Egypt. He affirmed that Ethiopia has been working from that perspective.
Egypt, however, he said, wants to either control the GERD or wants Ethiopia to stop its project, which is against Ethiopia’s national interest. “Though Ethiopia is the major contributor to the Nile River, a large portion of its population is in a poverty quagmire, including inaccessibility to clean water, electricity, and power. It’s truly unfair and immoral for Egypt to pressure Ethiopia this much,” he added, “Ethiopia should leverage all diplomatic means to get the GERD completed.”
Trump’s 2020 remarks suggesting that Egypt might ‘blow up’ the dam were a major point of contention that heightened tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia and drew strong condemnation from the Ethiopian government.
Edited by Dimetros Birku
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The juggernaut Oromo regime of the Abiy Ahmed led PP is composed of thugs and savages. The statement made by the president of the United States of America is not enough. Mr. Donald Trump could have said, the money circulating in the Ethiopian market is American money. The government report indicates that in 2024 Ethiopia received 7 billion US dollars in remittance payment. Ethiopia is a recipient of Aid from the US and its European allies. The money injected into Ethiopia by Arab nations is directly related to American money. The origin of most businesses in Ethiopia is American money. Ethiopia as a whole benefited from American money. America educates Ethiopians.
What do America gets in return ?
– money wise , zero.
– psychologically, yes. America can proudly say we are a nation that support and help others.
The regime of Abiy Ahmed has to go. Ethiopia needs a new constitution that guarantees justice, human rights, civil rights, and private ownership of land.
The Amhara struggle against the genocidal Oromo regime of Abiy Ahmed is legitimate. The Abiy led ethnocentric political system is at its peak and must be replaced. Power through deception and ethnic allegiance, and governance through intimidation and murder must come to an end. In a nation’s system where ethnicity determines everything, western values have no meaning. In a nation’s system where ethnicity dictates everything, genocide is inevitable. Bloodshed cannot buy loyalty. The Amharas are determined to fight to the end. Abiy Ahmed use of the Oromo army to suffocate and keep the Amharas under subjugation is not tenable anymore. The regime of Abiy Ahmed has to go. It is over.