Ethiopia bans flights over huge dam ‘for security reasons’ | Al Jazeera

Ethiopia has banned all flights over an enormous dam it is constructing on the Blue Nile River for security reasons. the head of its civil aviation authority has said, as the country’s president said the project would start generating power in the coming 12 months.


Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been locked in a bitter dispute over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which remains unresolved although the reservoir behind the dam began filling in July.

“All flights have been banned to secure the dam,” the director-general of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, Wesenyeleh Hunegnaw, told the Reuters news agency by phone on Monday. He declined to give more details on the reasons behind the move, which could worsen the long-running dispute.

In a speech to Parliament later on Monday, Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde said: “This year will be a year where the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will start generating power with the two turbines.”

She also said work was under way to enable a second filling of the giant hydropower dam within the next 12 months.