What Impact Will GERD’s Filling Have?

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
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What Impact Will GERD’s Filling Have?

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

Since the project was launched in 2011, a controversial Ethiopian dam has been raising tensions as Egypt and Sudan fear for their share of the Nile’s water and the social and economic repercussions of Ethiopia’s actions.

The ramifications of Addis Ababa moving forward with the third filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has deeply unsettled Cairo and Khartoum, which has announced a state of “maximum alert.”

After Cairo received a letter from Ethiopia on July 26 that stated it would continue to fill GERD during this flood season- acting unilaterally and before having reached an agreement- it responded by filing a complaint with the UN Security Council on Friday.

GERD Project Manager, Kifle Horo, has himself admitted that the shares of Egypt and Sudan could be undermined by the filling in an official statement about two months ago.

According to experts, Addis Ababa will fill GERD with approximately five additional billion cubic meters of water, which reduces Egypt's water supply.

Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University Dr. Abbas Sharaki says that any water stored in the GERD, whether a large or small quantity, is Egyptian-Sudanese water.

If used in agriculture, this water would bring in one billion dollars for every billion cubic meters. It is enough to water 1.1 million feddans of rice fields, and the cost of building water treatment plants to reuse agricultural drainage water, lining canals, developing field irrigation, and expanding greenhouses, among other processes, is extremely high, billions of Egyptian Pounds.

In Sudan, there is panic over the operation of dams, and there are fears of decreased agricultural productivity as a result of silt storage, rising groundwater, and increased costs of agricultural activity because of the need to use additional fertilizers.

In a study he published, Sharaki made several conclusions about the political damage Ethiopia is doing, saying it “is continuing to impose the framework that suits it on the ground, take unilateral decisions, and break international agreements, the Declaration of Principles Agreement it signed in 2015, and the Security Council’s (September 2021) statement.”

He warned that Ethiopia could continue to take similar actions on other projects in the future.

Sharaki goes as far as saying the matter “threatens peace and security in the region, especially after the holding capacity of GERD increased sevenfold.”

In case of a flood, the lives of 20 million Sudanese living by the Nile would be threatened and destroyed, he said.

The Egyptian expert added that the dam could upend the lives of millions of Sudanese farmers “who use simple and inexpensive flood farming methods, depending on the floods of the Blue Nile flowing to both banks in low and flat lands.”

Ethiopia’s insistence on acting unilaterally and disregarding the objections of both Sudan and Egypt has left farmers in both countries fuming, he said.

“More water will evaporate as the lake of GERD rises and the rocks surrounding GERD leak into the reservoir. The trees drowning in the lake will die out and undermine the quality of the water, and the biodiversity in the area will be reduced.”

Addis Ababa has claimed the dam will be among the largest in Africa, and reduced its production from 6,500 to 5,000 megawatts- twice Ethiopia's current levels. It is expected to reach full production capacity in 2024.

Meanwhile Khartoum and Cairo have demanded that Ethiopia compromise to agree to a framework that organizes the GERD’s operation and filling in order to safeguard the shared interests of the three countries.



Fireworks, Warplanes and Axes: How France Celebrates Bastille Day

France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
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Fireworks, Warplanes and Axes: How France Celebrates Bastille Day

France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron (center-L) and France's Chief of the Defense Staff General Thierry Bukhard (center-R) and French Military Governor of Paris (GMP) Loic Mizon (center-Top) review troops as they stand in the command car flanked by France's mounted Republican Guard (Guarde Republicaine) during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Swooping warplanes, axe-carrying warriors, a drone light show over the Eiffel Tower and fireworks in nearly every French town — it must be Bastille Day.

France celebrated its biggest holiday Monday with 7,000 people marching, on horseback or riding armored vehicles along the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees, the most iconic avenue in Paris. And there are plans for partying and pageantry around the country, said The Associated Press.

Why Bastille Day is a big deal

Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison on July 14, 1789, a spark for the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy. In the ensuing two centuries, France saw Napoleon’s empire rise and fall, more uprisings and two world wars before settling into today’s Fifth Republic, established in 1958.

Bastille Day has become a central moment for modern France, celebrating democratic freedoms and national pride, a mélange of revolutionary spirit and military prowess.

The Paris parade beneath the Arc de Triomphe so impressed visiting US President Donald Trump in 2017 that it inspired him to stage his own parade this year.

What stood out

The spectacle began on the ground, with French President Emmanuel Macron reviewing the troops and relighting the eternal flame beneath the Arc de Triomphe.

Two riders fell from their horses near the end of the parade, and it was unclear whether anyone was hurt. Such incidents happen occasionally at the annual event.

Each parade uniform has a touch of symbolism. The contingent from the French Foreign Legion was eye-catching, its bearded troops wearing leather aprons and carrying axes, a reference to their original role as route clearers for advancing armies.

The Paris event included flyovers by fighter jets, trailing red, white and blue smoke. Then the evening sees a drone light show and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower that has gotten more elaborate every year.

What’s special about this year

Every year, France hosts a special guest for Bastille Day, and this year it’s Indonesia, with President Prabowo Subianto representing the world’s largest Muslim country, which also a major Asian economic and military player.

Indonesian troops, including 200 traditional drummers, marched in Monday’s parade, and Indonesia is expected to confirm new purchases of Rafale fighter jets and other French military equipment during the visit. Prabowo, who was accused of rights abuses under Indonesia's prior dictatorship, will be treated to a special holiday dinner at the Elysée Palace.

“For us as Indonesian people, this is a very important and historic military and diplomatic collaboration,'' the commander of the Indonesian military delegation, Brig. Gen. Ferry Irawan, told The Associated Press.

Finnish troops serving in the UN force in Lebanon, and Belgian and Luxembourg troops serving in a NATO force in Romania also paraded through Paris, reflecting the increasingly international nature of the event.

Among the dignitaries invited to watch will be Fousseynou Samba Cissé, who rescued two babies from a burning apartment earlier this month and received a last-minute invitation in a phone call from Macron himself.

‘’I wasn't expecting that call,'' he told online media Brut. ‘’I feel pride.''

What’s the geopolitical backdrop

Beyond the military spectacle in Paris are growing concerns about an uncertain world. On the eve Bastille Day, Macron announced 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in extra French military spending in the next two years because of new threats ranging from Russia to terrorism and online attacks. The French leader called for intensified efforts to protect Europe and support for Ukraine.

‘’Since 1945, our freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,″ Macron said. ’’We are experiencing a return to the fact of a nuclear threat, and a proliferation of major conflicts.″

Security was exceptionally tight around Paris ahead of and during the parade.

What else happens on Bastille Day

It’s a period when France bestows special awards — including the most prestigious, the Legion of Honor — on notable people. This year's recipients include Gisèle Pelicot, who became a global hero to victims of sexual violence during a four-month trial in which her husband and dozens of men were convicted of sexually assaulting her while she was drugged unconscious.

Others earning the honor are Yvette Levy, a Holocaust survivor and French Resistance fighter, and musician Pharrell Williams, designer for Louis Vuitton.

Bastille Day is also a time for family gatherings, firefighters' balls and rural festivals around France.