86% > 0% — an equation redressed with the historic inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

By Kitaw Yayehyirad, September 2025

Photo taken at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in January 2023

Five years ago, in July 2020, I wrote an article in French on WeAspire titled “86% = 0%: Starting to End the Unfair Nile Equation for Ethiopia”, highlighting the injustice of the colonial-era water-sharing treaties.

I chose to write it in French because, at the time, just after the first filling of the GERD reservoir, Egypt had finally agreed to Ethiopia’s proposal to address this African issue under the auspices of the African Union. Given that many African countries are French-speaking, it was important to speak directly to that segment of the diplomatic community and make Ethiopia’s position well conveyed and understood.

Today, in September 2025, Ethiopia has officially inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a national project launched in 2011, entirely financed by the Ethiopian people and government through domestic resources, including bonds, public donations and salary contributions.

Far more than a hydroelectric facility, the dam embodies a sense of unity among Ethiopians who celebrate the GERD as a national achievement, a source of pride and a powerful symbol of self-reliance, while remaining conscious of the regional geopolitical transformation and recalibration of strategic power it induces.

The GERD will not merely be inaugurated : it will inaugurate a new era! An era of Ethiopian Renaissance in which the water equation, 86% > 0%, is finally redressed, bringing an end to a century-old injustice rooted in colonial-era Nile water treaties. At last, the rights of geography have spoken louder than the distorted claims of history.

Congratulations to all Ethiopians for this historic achievement!

-kitaw

Also read

• July 2020 – 86% = 0% : pour commencer d’en finir avec l’équation inéquitable du Nil pour l’Éthiopie – article in french
• July 2020 – English Translation by the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia in Geneva

September 2025 – The role of the Diaspora in Advocacy for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) presented at an event organized by the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia in Geneva on the inauguration of the GERD.