An Ethiopian official has denied Donald Trump\u2019s claim that the United States helped fund Ethiopia\u2019s new megadam on the River Nile, saying it is false and \u201cdestructive\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last week, President Trump said the controversial dam was built \u201cwith United States money, largely\u201d.<\/p>\n
Officially known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), the project is Africa\u2019s biggest hydro-electric plant and a major source of pride for Ethiopians.<\/p>\n
Over the 14 years it has taken to complete Gerd, the Ethiopian authorities have repeatedly said that the dam was funded by the government, along with contributions from the Ethiopian people.<\/p>\n
The dam has, however, angered Egypt and Sudan, which lie downstream on the River Nile and fear the dam could lead to less water flowing into their countries.<\/p>\n
The BBC has asked the US authorities to expand on Trump\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Fikrte Tamir, deputy director of the Gerd Coordination Office, dismissed Trump\u2019s remarks, saying the dam was built \u201cwithout any foreign aid\u201d.<\/p>\n
Although technically an independent body, the Gerd Coordination Office was set up by the government to mobilise resources for the dam.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegarding what Donald Trump claimed, the government should respond with far-sighted and carefully considered diplomatic procedures,\u201d Ms Fikrte said.<\/p>\n
Following Ms Fikrte\u2019s comments, some Ethiopians have questioned how privy the Gerd Coordination Office would be to any potential deal between the government and the US, given its independent status.<\/p>\n
Ethiopia\u2019s government has not responded to Trump\u2019s comments about funding the dam, which began generating electricity in 2022 and was fully completed earlier this month.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time Trump has claimed US involvement in Gerd. Last month, in a post on his Truth Social online platform, the president said the dam was \u201cstupidly financed by the United States of America\u201d and \u201csubstantially reduces the water flowing into The Nile River\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump was referring to concerns from Egypt and Sudan that the megadam would disrupt the flow of water they get from the River Nile.<\/p>\n
More than a mile long and 145m high, Gerd lies on the Blue Nile in the northern Ethiopia highlands, from where 85% of the River Nile\u2019s waters flow.<\/p>\n
Ethiopia wants the dam to produce desperately needed electricity, as the majority of its population \u2013 about 60% \u2013 have no supply.<\/p>\n
But the construction of Gerd has led to tensions with Egypt \u2013 an ally of the Trump administration \u2013 and Sudan.<\/p>\n
Initially scheduled to be completed within six years with a $4bn (\u00a32.9bn) budget, Gerd generated excitement among the Ethiopian public.<\/p>\n
The authorities capitalised on this interest to raise money for the dam \u2013 bonds were sold to companies, employees pledged deductions from their salaries and Ethiopia\u2019s huge diaspora sent in donations.<\/p>\n
Despite the project running significantly behind schedule, and consequently overbudget, it has continued to draw contributions.<\/p>\n
In the year leading up to 7 July, 1.7 billion birr ($12.3 million; \u00a39.1 million) has been collected from the public, the Gerd Coordination Office says.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Ethiopian official has denied Donald Trump\u2019s claim that the United States helped fund Ethiopia\u2019s new megadam on the River Nile, saying it is false and \u201cdestructive\u201d. Last week, President Trump said the controversial dam was built \u201cwith United States money, largely\u201d. Officially known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), the project is Africa\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}