Ethiopia inaugurated the continent's largest hydroelectric project on Tuesday in what Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called a "great achievement for all black people", but it drew a protest to the United Nations from downstream nation Egypt.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), straddling a tributary of the River Nile, is a national project of historic scale and a rare unifying symbol in a country torn apart by ongoing internal conflicts.

Towering 170 metres (550 feet) and stretching nearly two kilometres (1.2 miles) across the Blue Nile near the Sudanese border, construction on the dam began in 2011.

The $4-billion megastructure is designed to hold 74 billion cubic metres of water and generate 5,150 megawatts of electricity -- more than double Ethiopia's current capacity.

That makes it the largest dam by power capacity in Africa, though still outside the top 10 globally.

"GERD will be remembered as a great achievement not only for Ethiopia, but for all black people," Abiy said at the opening ceremony,........

© Al Monitor