Following Ethiopia's announcement, it began producing electricity from the controversial dam, built by Addis Ababa on the Blue Nile, and raised concerns among Egypt and the Sudan that their share of the river could be affected.

Experts on African issues have described Ethiopia's move to start producing electricity from the Renaissance Dam as "symbolic," emphasizing that it is more political than a real disservice to Egypt or the Sudan.

We see a conflict between the States of the Nile Basin over an important resource for life, the Nile River, and unilateral actions are negative on Ethiopia's moral level.

Following the Ethiopian announcement, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement regarding the start of electricity production from the Al-Nahda Dam, considering that the move "constitutes a consistent breach by Addis Ababa of its obligations."

Egyptian Foreign Affairs said: "In response to the Ethiopian announcement that the operation of the Al-Nahda Dam will proceed unilaterally after the first and second phases of the filling of the dam, Egypt stresses that this step is a further violation by the Ethiopian side of its obligations under the 2015 Declaration of Principles Agreement signed by the Ethiopian Prime Minister."