On Sunday, Ethiopia began generating electricity from its mega-dam on the Blue Nile.
The production of electronic screens was initiated when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pressed a series of buttons on an electronic screen while touring the power station.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is set to be the largest hydroelectric scheme in Africa but has been at the center of a dispute with downstream nations Egypt and Sudan ever since work first began in 2011.
The birth of a new era was described by Abiy.
This is good news for our continent and the countries we aspire to work with.
Cairo and Khartoum fear that the project could threaten their access to Nile waters, since it is essential for the electrification and development of Africa's second most populous country.
As he toured the site, he wore sunglasses and a khaki-coloured hat with the Ethiopia flag on it.
The water flowing through the concrete colossus will generate energy as it previously flowed to Sudan and Egypt, unlike the rumors that say the Ethiopia people and government are damming the water to starve Egypt and Sudan.
The foreign ministry of Egypt denounced Sunday's start-up, saying that it was in violation of a declaration of principles signed by the three nations.
Resisting external pressure is what it is.
The dam is expected to double Ethiopia's current output of electricity.
There are only one turbine that is currently operational.
Kifle Horo, the project manager, told Agence France-Presse that a second dam will come online within a few months.
The Blue Nile is straddled by a high structure in western Ethiopia near the border with Sudan.
Egypt, which depends on the Nile for 97 percent of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as a threat.
Sudan hopes the project will regulate flooding, but is concerned that it could harm its own dams.
Both have been pushing for a binding deal over the filling and operation of the massive dam, but African Union-sponsored talks have failed to achieve a breakthrough.
William Davison, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that the GERD is seen as a symbol of Ethiopia resisting external pressure.
The government believes that foreign actors are trying to undermine Ethiopia's sovereignty, so I think this will show they are still making progress despite the hostile environment.
After 15 months of brutal conflict with Tigrayan rebels, the commissioning of the GERD was a rare positive development that can unite a deeply fractured country.
He said that the newly-generated electricity from the GERD could help revive an economy that has been devastated by the combined forces of a deadly war, rising fuel prices and the Covid-19 epidemic.
Project delays.
The Tigrayan leader who ruled Ethiopia for more than two decades until his death in 2012 was the man who initiated the dam.
In the year of the project launch, civil servants contributed one month of their salary to the project, and the government issued dam bonds for Ethiopia and other countries.
The dam was revived after what officials claim was mismanagement.
The project manager said at the launch ceremony that the country has lost a lot because of the delayed dam.
Ethiopia said in July of 2020 that it had hit its target of over 4 billion cubic metres.
The target for the year was to add more than 13 billion.
Ethiopia said in July of last year that it had hit the target and that there was enough water for energy production.
Kifle wouldn't say how much water was collected last year or the target for the rainy season.
There will be a new year in 2022.
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