Energy for Growth Hub published on 18 May 2026 an article titled "Four Ways African Countries Can Secure Better Outcomes from Chinese-supported Power Projects" by Naa Adjekai Adjei.
Ghana's experience with Chinese-supported power projects demonstrates that it is possible to achieve better results with cost benchmarking, competitive procurement, stronger finance negotiation, and project oversight expertise.
AEI's Critical Threats Africa File posted on 9 April 2026 an article titled "Ethiopia-Egypt" by Michael DeAngelo and Liam Karr.
Ethiopia has solicited bids from international companies to build three dams on the Blue Nile upstream from the existing Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam at a total cost of $10.5 billion over seven years. Downstream Egypt opposes the construction and sent a letter from President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to President Trump promising "a firm and decisive response" to any future dams. Theoretically, the United Sates is trying to mediate the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia.
The New Arab published on 24 March 2026 an article titled "Egyptian Outrage as Ethiopia Announces Plans for More Dams on Blue Nile" by Saleh Salem.
Ethiopia has announced plans to construct 3 new dams on the Blue Nile, the location of the recently completed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The 3 dams will be constructed within 4 to 7 years and will be able to start operating simultaneously. Costing $3.5 billion each, the 3 dams will increase Ethiopia's electricity generation by 20 to 25 percent.
Egypt has reacted harshly to the announcement, arguing that the dams will further increase water shortages downstream when they begin operating as is the case with the GERD.
Comment: It is true that the GERD and the 3 new dams hold back water from downstream Sudan and Egypt during the period when Ethiopia is filling the reservoir behind the dams. But once the reservoir is full as in the case of the GERD today, Blue Nile River water flows normally. The only serious concern for downstream Sudan and Egypt occurs if there are several years of drought in the Nile Basin, reducing the water flow for all three countries, including the amount of water in the reservoirs of the dams that produce hydropower for Ethiopia.
Australia's Griffith University and the Green Finance & Development Center in Shanghai published on 18 January 2026 "China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Investment Report 2025" by Christoph Nedopil Wang.
Since the beginning of BRI in 2013, the report says Chinese construction projects (profit making opportunities by Chinese construction companies) totaled $837 billion globally while investment projects totaled $561 billion globally. The figures are based on having an active memorandum of understanding with China at the time of the report. Energy, mining, and transportation projects top the list.
In 2025, Africa accounted for a significant increase ($61.2 billion) in BRI engagement (construction projects and investment), but most of it was in construction projects (47 percent of global total) and not investment (22 percent of global total). Nigeria alone accounted for $24.6 billion in construction projects and the Republic of the Congo for another $23.1 billion.
Global Voices published on 17 December 2025 a commentary titled "China's Green Power in Angola: When Clean Energy Comes with Heavy Debt" by Vivian Wu and Jean Sovon.
Angola has received more than $40 billion in loans from China, much of it tied to oil-backed repayment. When oil prices are high, this works well for Angola, but when they fall debt servicing leaves the country financially exposed. In addition, loans used for large infrastructure projects such as hydropower dams provide uneven benefits for the Angolan people.
Ethiopia Insight published on 7 October 2025 a commentary titled "GERD at Dawn: Ethiopia's Triumph and the Niles's Uncertainty" by Muktar Ismail, a regional analyst.
Now that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam GERD) is complete and functioning with no apparent damage to downstream Sudan and Egypt, the primary downstream concern is how water will be released from the reservoir behind the dam during a long-term drought in the Nile Basin. Disagreements with Egypt and Sudan over the GERD are also spilling over into other regional disputes.
IntelliNews published on 7 September 2025 an article titled "Ethiopia Set to Inaugurate $4bn Mega-Dam as Egypt, Sudan Renew Strong Objections" by Brian Kenety.
Ethiopia is inaugurating on 9 September the $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the largest hydro dam in Africa. Downstream Sudan and Egypt continue to oppose construction of the dam, arguing it undermines their historic rights to Nile water flows guaranteed under colonial-era treaties to which Ethiopia was not a party.
The Egyptian newspaper Dostar published on 2 August 2025 an interview with me on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Egypt-Ethiopia relations.
The questions were submitted to me in English and answered in English. Dostar translated them into Arabic. The interview indicates that I am the former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, which is not the case. I served as the former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia.
The blog of Lawrence Freeman posted on 24 July 2025 an article titled "The Legacy & Vision of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam."
The article examines the historical context of Nile water usage, the roles played by four Ethiopian leaders in advancing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and the dam's prospects for aiding Ethiopia's sovereignty and prosperity.
The BBC posted on 23 July 2025 an article titled "Ethiopian Official Denies Donald Trump's Claim that US Funded River Nile Dam" by Wedaeli Chibelushi.
President Trump asserted in a meeting last week that "US money largely" funded the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. An Ethiopian official responded that Ethiopia built the dam "without any foreign aid." The money came from Ethiopian bonds sold to companies, pledges from Ethiopian government civil service salaries, and donations from the Ethiopian diaspora.
Comment: I am not aware of any US government funding for the dam. The Ethiopian diaspora in the United States made a modest but not precisely known contribution to GERD funding.
The South African Institute of International Affairs published in October 2024 a paper titled "Win-Win Green Partnership: China Is Capable, Is Africa Ready?" by Xiang Chen, Alex Benkenstein, and Steven Gruzd.
While China is positioned as a capable green partner, the success of the partnership depends on Africa's capacity to coordinate, finance, and integrate its priorities into the green development agenda. The authors express concern over Africa's ability to respond.
The Nanyang Technological University published on 28 February 2024 an article titled "Ethiopia Is a Frontier for Chinese Crypto."
Attracted by plentiful, inexpensive, renewable electricity and a favorable investment climate, over a dozen Chinese crypto mining firms have signed electric supply deals with the national Ethiopian electric utility. The primary operating cost of a cryptocurrency mining facility is the cost of electricity. Following construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, Ethiopia is poised to become a new magnet for global mining.
The New Arab published on 20 December 2023 an article titled "Egypt, Ethiopia Trade Blame as Nile Dam Talks Fail."
Egypt and Ethiopia recently completed another round of talks in Addis Ababa concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. They did not result in any significant progress and both sides blamed the other for the failure.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published in November 2023 a paper titled "Who Finances Energy Projects in Africa?" by Oyintarelado Moses.
The largest energy finance providers in Africa between 2012 and 2021 were China, World Bank, Italy, France, and the United States. The top African recipients of energy during these years were Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola.
The Global Development Policy Center at Boston University published in November 2023 a policy brief titled "Green Horizons? China's Global Energy Finance in 2022" by Cecilia Springer, Ishana Ratan, Yudong Nathan Liu, and Jia Gu.
From 2000-2022, the China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank provided 331 loans totaling $225 billion for 65 public borrowers for energy projects around the world. 2022 marked the second year in a row that China's development finance institutions did not issue new loan commitments for the overseas energy sector.
Despite the decline since 2016 in loan commitments and size, the amount of energy finance China provided surpassed the energy sector lending offered to public entities by any other global lender. The largest share of existing loan commitments by China has been to exploration and extraction projects in the energy sector.
Power generation received the second largest amount of lending commitments across energy subsectors. In terms of energy source, fossil fuels received the most support with coal, oil, and gas representing 73 percent of the lending. Oil was the largest energy source by amount of finance, followed by gas and liquefied natural gas.
China's commitments to stepping up support for green and low-carbon energy have yet to emerge in the form of development finance.
Aljazeera published on 25 September 2023 an article titled "Second Round of Negotiations on Ethiopia's Mega-dam Wrap Up."
Two days of talks in Addis Ababa involving representatives from Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan ended without making significant progress according to Egypt and with Ethiopia pledging to continue talks "in good faith."
Comment: After four seasonal annual fillings, Ethiopia completed filling the reservoir behind the dam this year. During this period, there was no apparent harm done to downstream Sudan and Egypt as a result of withholding Blue Nile water in the reservoir. The river is now flowing normally again through and over the hydropower dam, which is not diverting water for irrigation purposes.
Aljazeera published on 10 September 2023 an article titled "Filling of Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile Complete, Ethiopia Says."
The BBC published on 11 September 2023 an article titled "Egypt Angry as Ethiopia Fills Nile Dam Reservoir Amid Water Row" by Laurence Peter.
After the fourth and final annual seasonal filling of the reservoir behind the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that the reservoir is now full. The government of Egypt condemned the announcement; the government of Sudan has yet to comment.
The Middle East Institute published on 5 September 2023 an analysis titled "No News on the GERD Negotiations Is Bad News" by Mirette F. Mabrouk.
Following a hiatus of two years, recent talks in Cairo involving Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan on differences concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile ended with no tangible progress. The UAE attempted to broker the most recent agreement by promising $20 billion of investment in all three countries.
Dereje Tessema, author of Demystifying the Nile, organized on 29 April 2023 a conference at Georgetown University that focused on the Nile Basin and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It included a panel session lasting one hour and 15 minutes moderated by Won Kidane, Seattle University School of Law, and the following speakers: Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopian ambassador to the United States, Seifeselassie Lemma, Washington-based attorney, and me.
The panel session provided an update on the status of the GERD (now 90 percent complete), the regional and international geopolitics of the dam, and a discussion of international water law.
Ethiopia Insight published on 28 March 2023 a commentary titled "The Ethiopian and Eritrean Armies Deliberately Destroyed Tigray's Water Sector" by Gebremedhin Gebremeskel, Girmay Darcha, and Mitiku Haile, all residents in Mekelle, capital of Tigray Region.
Following the outbreak of civil war in Ethiopia, the authors assert that forces from the central government and Eritrea destroyed 50 percent of the water supply schemes in Tigray Region. In addition, 57 percent of irrigated farms on the banks of the Tekeze River and 89 percent of the Welkait sugarcane farms were destroyed.
