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Ethiopia Seeks to Overcome Internal Divisions by Attracting Donations for GERD

Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
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Ethiopia Seeks to Overcome Internal Divisions by Attracting Donations for GERD

Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo

Ethiopia is trying to overcome its internal divisions by amassing more widespread support for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River that has been under construction since 2011.

The East African country faces mounting international pressure around the highly controversial dam, raising tensions with downstream countries - Egypt and Sudan.

Moreover, Addis Ababa has come under harsh criticism after losing the conflict in the Tigray region.

Several initiatives to collect public donations to finish constructing the dam, which is around 80% built, have been launched by the Ethiopian government.

The latest initiative features an official platform set up exclusively to gather donations from Ethiopians worldwide.

Although observers agree that local donations will hardly have a substantial impact, the initiative comes to promote the project and overcoming political, economic, and ethnic divisions and crises that have weakened Ethiopia’s sense of national unity.

According to an official report, more than $132,000 was collected on the newly formed platform in just 48 hours.

Addis Ababa relies on the platform to enhance the contribution of Ethiopians from all over the world to support the dam.

“Popular support for the dam is increasing, especially after the successful completion of the second filling, which ended last month,” said Hailu Abraham, Public Relations Head at Office of Ethiopia National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation on the Construction of GERD.

According to Abraham, Addis Ababa collected ETB 2.49 billion from Ethiopians in the last fiscal year and had received over ETB 15.7 billion in contributions since 2011.

Despite the generous donations of Ethiopians, Egypt’s former minister of irrigation and water resources, Mohamed Nasr Eldin Allam, deemed the notion of Ethiopians building the dam on their own unrealistic.

“The talk that the people’s donation finances the dam is not true,” said Allam, adding that popular aids are only a drop in the sea of international funding estimated at $6 billion.

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Arab World

Israel Strike on Syria Kills One

Since Assad's overthrow, Israel has occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the formerly Syria-controlled side of the armistice line. (AFP)
Since Assad's overthrow, Israel has occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the formerly Syria-controlled side of the armistice line. (AFP)
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Israel Strike on Syria Kills One

Since Assad's overthrow, Israel has occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the formerly Syria-controlled side of the armistice line. (AFP)
Since Assad's overthrow, Israel has occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the formerly Syria-controlled side of the armistice line. (AFP)

An Israeli strike killed a man in southern Syria, state media reported Tuesday, with Damascus condemning the attack as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since opposition groups toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

It has also opened talks with the interim authorities in Damascus.

"A young man was killed in an Israeli strike on a home in the village of Taranja", on the formerly Syria-controlled side of the armistice line on the Golan Heights, the official SANA news agency reported.

Syria condemned "the recent Israeli attacks on its territory, which resulted in the martyrdom of a young man", the foreign ministry said.

It also condemned the Israeli forces' incursion into a town in the Quneitra countryside, their "arrest campaigns against civilians", and their "announcement of the continuation of their illegal presence on the summit of Mount Hermon and the buffer zone".

"These aggressive practices constitute a flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, and relevant Security Council resolutions, and constitute a direct threat to peace and security in the region".

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had carried out "several activities last week in southern Syria to locate weapons and apprehend suspects".

The Saudi foreign ministry said the Israeli attacks were a "flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic and international law".

The Qatari foreign ministry called on "the international community to take decisive action against the Israeli occupation and compel it to halt its repeated attacks on Syrian territory".

Since Assad's overthrow, Israel has occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the formerly Syria-controlled side of the armistice line, including the summit of Mount Hermon, the region's highest peak.

Last week, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris to push for a return to the arrangements that had been in place since a 1974 disengagement agreement.

Arab World

US to Back Extending UN Peacekeeping Mandate in Lebanon, Says Envoy

French UN peacekeepers patrol the Lebanese-Israeli border in the village of Houla, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP)
French UN peacekeepers patrol the Lebanese-Israeli border in the village of Houla, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP)
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US to Back Extending UN Peacekeeping Mandate in Lebanon, Says Envoy

French UN peacekeepers patrol the Lebanese-Israeli border in the village of Houla, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP)
French UN peacekeepers patrol the Lebanese-Israeli border in the village of Houla, southern Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP)

US envoy Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that his country would approve the extension of United Nations peacekeepers' mandate in Lebanon for one more year.

With the UN Security Council discussing the future of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), whose mandate ends on Sunday, Barrack told journalists from Lebanon's presidential palace: "The United States' position is we will extend for one year."

Barrack noted disapprovingly that the force cost "a billion dollars a year".

The Security Council is debating a French-drafted compromise that would keep UNIFIL -- first deployed in 1978 to separate Israel and Lebanon -- in place for another year while it prepares to withdraw.

The vote, which was supposed to take place on Monday, has faced US and Israeli opposition and was postponed as negotiations continued, several diplomatic sources told AFP.

In the latest draft seen by AFP, the Council would signal "its intention to work on a withdrawal of UNIFIL with the aim of making the Lebanese Government the sole provider of security in southern Lebanon".

Arab World

Lebanon Agrees Bail for Ex-Central Bank Chief

11 November 2019, Lebanon, Beirut: Then Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon Riad Salameh speaks during a press conference at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Lebanon. (dpa)
11 November 2019, Lebanon, Beirut: Then Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon Riad Salameh speaks during a press conference at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Lebanon. (dpa)
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Lebanon Agrees Bail for Ex-Central Bank Chief

11 November 2019, Lebanon, Beirut: Then Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon Riad Salameh speaks during a press conference at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Lebanon. (dpa)
11 November 2019, Lebanon, Beirut: Then Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon Riad Salameh speaks during a press conference at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Lebanon. (dpa)

Lebanon's judiciary agreed Tuesday to the release on bail of more than $20 million of former central bank governor Riad Salameh, detained for nearly a year on embezzlement charges, judicial officials said.

Salameh, 75, who headed the central bank for three decades, faces numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad.

He is widely viewed as a key culprit in Lebanon's economic crash, which the World Bank has called one of the worst in recent history, but has defended his legacy, insisting he is a "scapegoat".

The judiciary "agreed to release Salameh on bail of $20 million in addition to five billion Lebanese pounds (around $56,000) and banned him from travel for a year starting from the date of this decision's implementation", the judicial official said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media.

The decision relates to a case in which Salameh is accused of embezzling $44 million from the central bank, the official said, adding that the judiciary had issued release orders for him in two other cases last month.

A second judicial official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bail amount "is the highest in the history of the Lebanese judiciary".

Salameh's lawyer Mark Habka told AFP that "the bail is high and illegal, and I will speak to my client about the next steps".

In April, a Lebanese judge issued an indictment for Salameh, charging him with embezzling $44 million from the central bank, as well as illicit enrichment and forgery. Bail was rejected at the time.

The second judicial official said the decision to release him came "in consideration of his health condition".

The official said he would in any case have been released automatically on September 4 when his pre-trial detention order expires.

Salameh, who left office at the end of July 2023, has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, saying his wealth comes from private investment and his previous work at US investment firm Merrill Lynch.