Valix

Suweilem’s Questions and Ethiopia’s Silence!! So far, the questions raised by Egyptian Irrigation Minister Hani Suweilem to the Ethiopian side remain without clear answers. The Ethiopian government has yet to provide a direct response to the basic question: Where has the electricity generated by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam gone? Has it reached the millions of Ethiopians who still suffer from limited access to electricity? Or has some of it gone to cryptocurrency mining, after Bitcoin-mining companies consumed nearly one-third of Ethiopia’s electricity generation during the last fiscal year? Suweilem’s questions therefore become even more pressing: If the GERD was built primarily to generate electricity and promote development, where has that electricity gone, and who has benefited from it? And the bigger question: Was providing electricity to Ethiopian households really the priority? In a nearly 20-minute statement, Suweilem challenged a narrative that Ethiopia has repeated for around 15 years, raising serious questions about the claim that the dam’s primary objective is development. This significant shift in Egypt’s tone toward Addis Ababa is a sign that Egypt’s strategic patience may be nearing its limits. In the absence of any genuine American, African or regional mediation, the Egyptian position could move beyond words toward action. This is a crisis that could affect everyone, with potentially serious consequences. But if the current course continues, the Ethiopian government may ultimately pay a heavy price for its continued defiance and what Cairo sees as its persistent disregard for Egypt’s concerns.