"ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia began producing electricity on Sunday from its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a multi-billion-dollar hydropower plant on the River Nile that neighbours Sudan and Egypt have worried will cause water shortages downstream.

After flicking a digital switch to turn on the turbines in the first phase of the project, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sought to assure those nations that his country did not wish to harm their interests.

"Ethiopia's main interest is to bring light to 60% of the population who is suffering in darkness, to save the labour of our mothers who are carrying wood on their backs in order to get energy," Abiy said.

Abiy's government says the project is key to its economic development, but Egypt and Sudan depend on the waters of the Nile and have worried it will affect them."

Dawit Endeshaw reports for Reuters February 21, 2022. [2]