‘The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’ – Africa’s biggest dam across Nile

INTERNATIONAL  -AFRICA

10 SEPTEMBER 2025

• Ethiopia inaugurated the continent’s largest hydroelectric project in what it called a “great achievement for all black people”, but it drew a protest to the United Nations from downstream nation Egypt.
• The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, is a rare unifying symbol in a country torn apart by internal conflicts.
• The Nile River’s basin spans 11 countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt.
• It has two major tributaries: the White Nile and the Blue Nile.
• The White Nile begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan, while the Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia[and flows into Sudan from the southeast.
• The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
• Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by area, world’s largest tropical lake, and world’s second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America.
• The lake’s area is divided among three countries: Tanzania 49%, Uganda 45% and Kenya 6%.