Ethiopia denies reports government has started filling dam

Ethiopia’s water minister denied reports Wednesday that government h begun filling a massive hydroelectric dam that has caused severe tensions with Egypt and led some to fear military conflict.

Media outlets reported government h begun filling after Minister Sileshi Bekele confirmed to Ethiopian Brocasting Corporation that satellite ims from recent days showed dam’s reservoir swelling.

minister told Associated Press, however, that ims reflected heavy rains, saying that inflow was greater than outflow. He later tweeted saying it created “natural pooling.”

On Tuesday, International Crisis Group analyst William Davison told AP that ims of swelling reservoir captured on July 9 by a European ncy satellite likely show a “natural backing-up of water behind dam.”

Ethiopia’s latest round of talks with Egypt and Sudan on an agreement over operation of $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam failed early this week.

Ethiopia has said it would begin filling dam's reservoir this month even without a deal as rainy season floods Blue Nile.

Ethiopia says colossal dam offers a critical opportunity to pull millions of its nearly 110 million citizens out of poverty and become a major power exporter. Downstream Egypt, which depends on Nile to supply its farmers and booming population of 100 million with fresh water, asserts that dam poses an existential threat.

Years of talks with a variety of mediators, including Trump ministration, have failed to produce a solution. Last week’s round, mediated by African Union and observed by U.S. and European officials, proved different.

Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas on Monday said parties were “keen to find a solution,” but technical and legal disagreements persist over its filling and operation.

Most important, he said, are questions about how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs and how countries will resolve any future disputes.

Kevin Wheeler, a researcher at Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, told AP that escalating rhetoric is more due to changing power dynamics in region. Fears of any immediate water short “are t justified at this st at all.

“If re were a drought over next several years, that certainly could become a risk,” he said.