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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia has denied a claim by U.S. President Donald Trump that Ethiopia’s new mega-dam was funded by the United States.
The $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) sits on a tributary of the River Nile and is expected to generate 5,150 megawatts of electricity, making it the largest dam by power capacity in Africa.
The dam has been called an “existential threat” by Egypt, a close ally of the United States that depends on the Nile for roughly 97% of its water supply.
Trump stated last month that the dam “was financed by the United States and basically blocks the Nile” while speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
On Tuesday, however, Abiy denied the claim while addressing parliamentarians.
“We did not receive a single birr (the Ethiopian currency) in loans or financial aid from any foreign sources for the construction of the mega-dam,” Abiy said.
“We achieved this through the strong commitment of Ethiopians living in the country and in the diaspora.”
Construction of the GERD began in 2011 and was financed through domestic taxes and loans, according to Ethiopian authorities.
The construction firm behind the project said the dam does not divert water away from Egypt.
The dam “releases water to produce energy. They are not irrigation schemes that consume water,” Pietro Salini, CEO of Webuild, the project’s prime contractor, told AFP during the inauguration in September.
Salini added that the project was fully financed by Ethiopia, noting that no international lender agreed to fund it.
“Not one international lender was willing to put money in this project,” Salini said.
Trump, a long-time supporter of Egypt’s government, promised to “get negotiations back on track” between Addis Ababa and Cairo. Ethiopian officials have not yet publicly responded to Egypt’s declaration that it is prepared to resume mediation efforts.
