Ethiopians are voicing serious concerns over what many describe as uncalled for statements about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) made by the US President during a meeting with NATO officials in Washington.

According to Trump, the dam is “closing up water going to the Nile”, which he described as “a very important source of income and life … to take that away is pretty incredible. But we think we are going to have that solved very quickly.”

Ethiopia is counting on the dam to help extricate its population from poverty, while Egypt claims it may rob it of its “historical” right to the Nile waters.

“I think if I am Egypt, I want to have water in the Nile and we are working on that,” said Trump.

People like Fekahmed Negash, a former executive director at Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) of the Nile Basin Initiative, see Trump’s comments as far too incendiary to ignore. The expert is one of the many Ethiopians who say President Trump’s remarks appeared as a categorically partisan stance, though they were not unexpected from a populist leader.

“President Trump held grudges against Ethiopia for not adhering to his self-styled mediation efforts between Ethiopia and Egypt eight years ago during his first presidency,” Fekahmed, who had also served as director of the Transboundary Rivers Affairs at the Ministry of Water, told The Reporter. “The Egyptians got the better of him to take a stand that Ethiopia should sign a binding treaty with Egypt and Sudan regarding the GERD.”

Ethiopia cannot and must not sign such a deal, says Fekahmed.

“That would preclude its long term development needs using its own resources and inside its own territory,” he said, adding the US President omitted the fact that the dam has not stopped the Nile from flowing downstream.

The expert observes that commitments made to Egypt by the US several decades ago, including commitments under the Camp David Treaty, are weighing on the US government’s stand on disputes between Ethiopia and Egypt on the Nile.

Egypt and Sudan go by the 1959 colonial era water sharing agreement that gave Egypt the rights to 55.5 billion cubic meters while granting Sudan 18.5 billion cubic meters of Nile waters. Ethiopia, whose highlands account for 86 percent of the river’s flow, was not part of the British-enforced treaty.

Ethiopia embarked on the construction of the 5175 megawatt dam in 2011, through entirely domestic resources mobilization whereby citizens and foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin buy bonds.

Trump’s claim that his country funded the megaproject has baffled all observers, and pushed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a rebuttal stating the dam’s construction was financed entirely through domestic resource mobilization.

A couple of weeks ago, during a parliamentary question-and-answer session, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) announced the dam is scheduled for inauguration at the end of the rainy season, likely sometime in September. The PM invited the leaders of Nile riparian countries, including those of Egypt and Sudan, to attend the inauguration ceremony.

Egypt was quick to reject the invite.

The suggestion comes following the third review of Ethiopia’s USD 3.4 billion extended credit facility program, whose launch a year ago coincided with a milestone decision to shift to a market-determined foreign exchange rate.

While the Birr has depreciated significantly over the past 12 months, regulators at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) have introduced restrictions on foreign exchange (FX) accounts, including increased limits for debit card withdrawals and a cap on bank fees for FX transactions.

In a comprehensive report published this week, the IMF underscored that “policy efforts should continue to focus on developing a well-functioning and unified FX market to enable efficient and transparent FX allocation. A key priority is the phased removal of remaining exchange rate restrictions on current account transactions which increase the costs of using the formal market, or leave some demand for FX unsatisfied, driving parallel market demand.”

Its experts predict that positive real interest rates that make holding Birr-denominated assets more attractive will reduce incentives to use the parallel market to hold wealth in FX.

“In the longer term, a well-sequenced opening of the financial account can be considered, focusing first on strong regulatory and supervisory capacity and ensuring the financial sector can manage cross-border flows soundly, and attracting long-term capital flows before considering facilitating shorter-term investors,” reads the report.

The IMF wants to see the removal of a 2.5 percent NBE commission fee on forex sales, which, along with other transaction costs, it sees contributing to the 15 percent premium on the parallel forex market.

“Adoption of a market-determined exchange rate in July 2024 and the removal of most distortive exchange restrictions led to a rapid convergence between official and parallel market rates. The parallel market premium collapsed, reaching near-zero by early September 2024, as the official rate aligned with market conditions. Since then, the premium has increased to approximately 16 percent by late October 2024, then narrowed and stabilized in the single digits until the end of December. By early May, it gradually widened again to around 17 percent. FX reserves increased to approximately USD4 billion in April 2025, covering nearly two months of prospective imports,” reads the IMF report.

The organization recommended measures such as growing liquidity in interbank money and FX markets as well as creating the necessary pre-conditions to develop hedging instruments for Ethiopia to be able to reduce the demand for FX in the parallel market.

Earlier this month, the World Bank told The Reporter discrepancies and fluctuations in the parallel market were behind the decision to leave Ethiopia as “unclassified” on this year’s update of a global national income per capita index.

The IMF has called for “[e]nhancing competition in the banking sector, notably through more transparency on fees, commissions, and pricing, and including through possible participation by foreign banks, would allow customers to choose the most competitive bank, improving price discovery and the efficiency of FX intermediation”

The extent of capital and financial account restrictions, according to the report, varied significantly across countries undergoing similar reforms.

“Angola and Ethiopia have imposed stricter controls on the capital and financial accounts of the BOP than Egypt and Nigeria,” it reads. “The Financial Account Restriction Index (FARI), based on information in the IMF Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions, indicates that Angola and Ethiopia have regulations on approximately 70 to 80 percent of total capital account transactions, whereas Egypt and Nigeria have regulations on only 10–20 percent of total capital account transactions.”

The report also touches on Ethiopia’s troubles with tax collection.

 “Ethiopia’s tax revenue performance remains below its potential, with the tax-to-GDP ratio among the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it reads. “Despite having statutory tax rates broadly aligned with regional peers, actual revenue collection is constrained by structural factors, including a narrow tax base, high informality, and administrative challenges, including those linked to the distinct features of Ethiopia’s intergovernmental tax system. Compared to similar economies, Ethiopia’s tax effort is among the lowest, indicating considerable scope to enhance revenue mobilization through improved efficiency and policy adjustments.”

It notes that while income and profit tax rates are relatively high, their contribution to total revenue remains limited.

“VAT revenues, though a crucial source of indirect taxation, are significantly lower than in peer economies, pointing to administrative inefficiencies and exemptions that narrow the tax base. Trade taxes, historically an important revenue stream, have declined as Ethiopia’s trade openness has contracted, further underscoring the need for policies that support a more robust and diversified tax system,” the report reads.

The government of Ethiopia earlier this week endorsed a revised income tax law, and it turned out to be a controversial one.

The renowned economic affairs analyst, Kebour Ghenna is one of critics to the revised law that aims to widen the country’s tax base. He just posted a sharp critique entitled “Taxing the Poor: Ethiopia’s Latest Economic Blunder” on his Facebook page.

He wrote: “…under the new tax schedule, anyone earning ETB 2,000 or less per month is spared [from tax]. Those pulling in less than ETB 4,000 pay 15%. If you make less than ETB 7,000? That’s 20%. And so on.

“Sounds fair? Maybe, until you realize that at today’s exchange rate, even someone earning ETB 8,000 a month – a sum still taxable – is making barely $2 a day. That’s the UN poverty line, folks. Yes, the government of Ethiopia, fresh from its budget meetings with the IMF and World Bank, now wants to tax its poorest citizens, those barely able to buy cooking oil or bus fare.”

He described the amended tax system as something enabling the robbing of the poor to “balance the books”.

“Let’s be clear about one thing,” he said. “When the government taxes the poorest, it doesn’t collect from ‘savers’ or ‘speculators’. It collects from people who spend everything they earn. Not on vacations or luxury goods but on food, rent, school fees, and the occasional trip to the clinic. These expenditures don’t disappear into a black hole; they go right back into the economy. They pay the shopkeeper, the minibus driver, the farmer, the tailor…and yes, they pay taxes again the form of VAT.”

During the parliamentary session that passed the amended income tax law, President of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU), Kassahun Follo criticized the bill saying it would make it beyond the means of the salaried, particularly civil servants.

Kassahun who recommended, albeit to no avail, that income tax start from earnings above a threshold of 8,324 Birr, expressed opposition also to the idea of a 35 percent tax on salaries beginning from 14,100 Birr.

 “Tax ought to be collected, and development must be continued,” he told the members of parliament. “[But} human life must also continue; people cannot work while hungry, they cannot be productive [as such].”

Close to two dozen missions are assigned to follow up on the numerous World Bank-financed projects currently being implemented in Ethiopia, the sources said.

“Missions are a core part of the World Bank’s operations and are conducted regularly to facilitate the implementation of development projects, ensure their effectiveness, and identify needs for further support,” reads an email response from the World Bank. “Key tasks include supervising and monitoring ongoing projects, reviewing implementation performance, resolving bottlenecks, providing technical assistance and advice, and ensuring compliance with environmental, social, and fiduciary standards.”

However, the WB office told The Reporter that the number of missions should not be taken as being indicative of anything “unusual”.

“The number of missions, or the occurrence of several simultaneous missions, should not be viewed as an indication of anything unusual,” it said. “Ethiopia’s portfolio is among the largest in the world, including a significant number of projects. This naturally necessitates a higher volume of missions, including those dedicated to analytical work and technical assistance.”

It said also that “The timing and frequency of missions are often shaped by factors such as the fiscal calendar, the availability of counterparts, and the need to coordinate with other development partners. In some instances, multiple missions may overlap due to coinciding project cycles or to capitalize on opportunities for greater efficiency by combining efforts across related projects or sectors.”

Responding to questions about whether finances made available by the Bank were being put towards their intended purpose, WB country office told The Reporter that it has a robust system for ensuring accountability.

“All World Bank financing is subject to a vigorous system of accountability with stringent guidelines for procurement, and financial management to ensure that financing is used for its intended purpose,” it said. “This includes assessing the capacity of implementing agencies, enforcing strict procurement and disbursement procedures, requiring regular financial reporting and independent audits, and conducting supervision missions to monitor progress.”

The office indicated its personnel use digital monitoring tools, enforce anti-corruption measures, and require all projects to establish local grievance redress mechanisms for stakeholder feedback. A Grievance Redress Service (GRS) allows individuals and communities to submit complaints directly to World Bank management.

Earlier this month, the World Bank approved a one billion USD financing package for Ethiopia, consisting of a USD 650 million grant and 350 million in concessional credit to support the country’s economic reform agenda and promote inclusive growth.

This funding, according to reports, was part of the Second Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Development Policy Operation (DPO) and builds on a previous operation from 2024.

The financing, records show, was aimed at helping strengthen financial sector stability, boost trade competitiveness, improve domestic revenue mobilization, enhance public sector governance, and ensure social service sustainability under the Horn of Africa country’s Homegrown Economic Reform.

“As of April 9th, 2025, the portfolio in Ethiopia consists of 47 active projects—37 national and 10 regional —with a total commitment of USD 15.34 billion. This includes USD 12.28 billion allocated to national programs and USD 2.43 billion for regional integration, complemented by USD 0.63 billion in trust fund financing,” a WGB strategy paper reads.

Since 2000, the International Development Assistance (IDA)—Ethiopia’s largest provider of official development assistance—has committed more than USD 30 billion to 167 projects in Ethiopia, including the Low Lands Livelihoods Resilience Project and Agriculture Growth Projects, Response–Recovery–Resilience for Conflict-Affected Communities Project, Locust Emergency Response and Flood Management Projects, Human Capital Development and Digital Foundations Projects, along with critical investments in energy, water, and transportation, according to the information made public on the WBG official webpage.

“As of March 31, 2025, IFC has a committed portfolio of USD 345.1 million across 13 investment projects in Ethiopia and a well-diversified advisory portfolio of USD 49.7 million across 26 projects covering IFC’s three industry groups: Financial Industries, Manufacturing Agribusiness and Services, and Infrastructure and Natural Resources.” it reads. “IFC is financing projects in cement, the cut flower sector, packaged food, coffee, poultry, health, telecoms, mining, and trade finance.”

According to the WBG description, the projects in IFC’s pipeline have spanned across infrastructure, manufacturing, telecom, renewable energy, agriculture value chains that support food security and local production covering the malt/barley sector, poultry livestock, edible oil, and the financial sector.

“This report highlights a deadly confluence of factors pummeling millions of refugees and displaced people: rising displacement, shrinking funding and political apathy. And women and children are, as ever, the hardest hit,” the UNHCR report said. “Altogether, USD 1.4 billion of essential programmes are being cut or put on hold.”

Millions now face deteriorating living conditions, heightened risks of exploitation and abuse, and may be pushed into further displacement, it cautions.

“Families are seeing the support they relied on vanish, forced to choose between feeding their children, buying medicines or paying rent, while hope for a better future slips out of sight. Every sector and operation has been hit, and critical support is being suspended to keep life-saving aid going,” reads the report.

Cuts have forced UNHCR to pause the movement of new arrivals from border areas to safer locations in places like Chad and South Sudan, leaving thousands stranded in remote locations. In Uganda, malnutrition rates are soaring in some reception centres, with limited access to clean water and food.

Health and education services were being scaled back, with schools closing and clinics understaffed. In camps hosting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, education for some 230,000 children was at risk of being suspended, it said, adding UNHCR’s entire health programme in Lebanon was at risk of being shuttered by the end of the year.

Financial aid and the delivery of emergency relief items have been cut by 60 percent globally and shelter programmes have been critically diminished, according to the report.

In places like Niger, cuts in financial aid for shelter have left families in overcrowded structures or at risk of homelessness. Financial aid in Ukraine and across the region has also been slashed, leaving uprooted families unable to afford rent, food or medical treatment.

Registration, child protection, legal counselling, as well as prevention of and responses to gender-based violence have been hard hit.

In South Sudan, 75 per cent of safe spaces for women and girls supported by UNHCR have closed, leaving up to 80,000 refugee women and girls, including survivors of sexual violence, without access to medical care, psychosocial support, legal aid, material support or income-generating activities.

Cuts are also, worryingly, impacting resettlement and the safe and voluntary return of refugees. Around 1.9 million Afghans have returned home or been forced back since the start of the year, but financial aid for returnees is barely enough to afford food, let alone rent, undermining efforts to ensure stable reintegration.

In several operations, severe funding gaps have curtailed investments in digitizing and strengthening asylum systems and promoting regularization efforts.

In countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Mexico, a lack of legal status means prolonged insecurity, deepening poverty as refugees are excluded from formal employment, and greater exposure to exploitation and abuse. These cuts are undermining efforts made to find long-term solutions. Incentives for refugee volunteers have also been severely impacted, threatening vital services and cutting a regular source of income for those refugees.

“UNHCR funding requirements for 2025 are USD 10.6 billion. At the midpoint of the year, only 23 per cent had been met. Against this backdrop, our teams are focusing efforts on saving lives and protecting those forced to flee. Should additional funding become available, UNHCR has the systems, partnerships and expertise to rapidly resume and scale up assistance,” it said.

An OHCA report entitled Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund (EHF) – 2025 Second Reserve Allocation, As of July 2025 and published on July 14 said in May this year, the EHF launched its Second Reserve Allocation with a budget of 6 million US Dollars to address critical life-threatening humanitarian needs in the Tigray region.

 “This allocation responded to deteriorating conditions linked to sustained displacement, funding shortfalls, collapsing service pipelines and heightened vulnerability ahead of the rainy season.”

Difficulties in determining average foreign exchange rates have led the World Bank to temporarily omit Ethiopia from this year’s edition of its annual update on gross national income per capita classification, potentially affecting the country’s ability to access foreign finance.

Venezuela is the only other country under a “classification suspension”, which also marks Ethiopia’s first absence from the report since the World Bank Group began publishing national GNI data in 1987.

Each year, the World Bank classifies world’s economies into four income groups (low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high) based on the previous year’s Gross National Income per capita, expressed in US dollars.

In an email interview, the World Bank Ethiopia office told The Reporter that Ethiopia’s suspension is rooted in the disparity between official and parallel foreign exchange market rates and the tremendous shifts the forex market has undergone over the past year as part of the administration’s economic reforms.

“The WB generally uses the official exchange rate as reported to the IMF to convert local currency units into US dollars. However, this exchange rate is not always reflective of the economic reality. Certain countries maintain dual or multiple official rates, often accompanied by active parallel market segments. To ensure accurate representation in underlying statistics, a composite exchange rate should be used. This approach provides a more accurate reflection of actual market transactions and improves the comparability across countries,” reads the response.

“In the case of Ethiopia, there has been an active parallel market for several years and the spread between the official and parallel market rates was significant and had reached above 100 percent prior to the launch of the economic reform program in July 2024,” the WB Ethiopia office told The Reporter.

The World Bank notes the official exchange rate has largely converged with the parallel rate since the currency was floated a year ago, and says using the official exchange rate that prevailed before July 2024 could be potentially misleading.

“Thus, to allow more time to determine a suitable exchange rate and to carefully examine the implications of the reforms on the exchange rate, Ethiopia has been temporarily suspended from the income classification,” reads the response.

A country’s income classification not only reflects its level of development, but it also has the potential to influence its development trajectory. It affects eligibility for official development assistance and concessional financing, reads a WB Group blog.

“Since the late 1980s, the classification of countries into income categories has transformed. The number of low-income countries has steadily declined, while the number of high-income countries has increased,” reads the intro to the bank’s classification for the year 2026. “This shift reflects broader global economic developments, including sustained growth in many developing countries, greater integration into the global economy, and the effects of policy reforms and international organizations’ support.”

In 1987, nearly a third of reporting countries were classified as low-income and a quarter as high-income countries. By 2024, these ratios shifted to 12 percent low-income and 40 percent high-income, according to the update.

Nearly half of all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are classified as low-income, down from 75 percent four decades ago.

Among the attendees at the two-day event in Rio De Janeiro was Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD), in what was his second summit since his country officially joined the organization alongside four other countries in January 2024.

The move drew mixed reactions, with one side viewing Ethiopia’s accession to a bloc that purports to stand as a counterweight to Western dominance in global affairs as a welcome development, and the other warning it could place the country in an awkward position, stuck between East and West.

Among the latter were hundreds of Ethiopian economists who participated in a survey conducted in the weeks following Ethiopia’s accession, warning that joining BRICS would likely trigger backlash from the West.

A year and a half later, Trump’s punitive tariff threat gives credence to their warning.

“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff [sic],” the US President wrote in a social media post. “There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Today, analysts say that if implemented, Trump’s latest tariff would weigh more heavily on economic underdogs like Ethiopia than on other, more developed BRICS members such as China. Although the tariff would be paid by American importers and would not affect Ethiopian businesses directly, the added cost could push US businesses to look for alternatives.

Exports to the US bring in around USD 400 million annually, primarily made up of coffee, apparel, and textiles.

Others question what Ethiopia really stands to gain from BRICS, pointing to the obvious political, economic, and geographic differences between its members.

Proponents argue the bloc, which now encompasses 56 percent of the world’s population and 44 percent of global GDP – this estimate accounts for both member countries and those aligned as partners – can offer Ethiopia benefits in security, trade, and financing. The New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral financial institution founded by BRICS members a decade ago, and its efforts towards de-dollarization play a key role in making the case for Ethiopia’s membership.

Speaking anonymously, a credible source in the know of the issue at hand told The Reporter that although the officials who accompanied the Prime Minister to Rio did not make mention of it upon their return from the summit, the Ethiopian delegation used the platform to lobby for access to financing from NDB.

Each of the five founding BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) has an equal shareholding in the bank, which operates with USD 100 billion in authorized capital. Headquartered in Shanghai, NDB provides both sovereign (government-backed) and private loans with a focus on financing sustainable infrastructure, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and local currency financing.

The source told The Reporter the Ethiopian government is keen on opening a line of credit with the bank, with officials viewing it as an opportunity to access financing without the painful austerity measures and economic policy obligations that come with funding from sources like the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However, experts like Abdulmenan Mohammed, a financial analyst keeping a close watch on Ethiopian economic policy, argue the newfound hope in NDB is misplaced.

“I don’t think BRICS will be very beneficial [for Ethiopia]. I don’t think BRICS will serve as an alternative source of financing for Ethiopia because Ethiopia’s overall economic framework is still heavily reliant on Western institutions,” said Abdulmenan.

The expert observes NDB, formerly known as the BRICS Bank, holds little influence compared to institutions like the World Bank and the IMF.

“I don’t think it will significantly benefit Ethiopia. In fact, I don’t see major benefits even for countries like Russia and China, let alone for a developing country like Ethiopia,” Abdulmenan said.

He joined in the voices of many critics who point to BRICS’ Achilles’ heel: BRICS is less homogenous geographically, economically, as well as in terms of policy priorities and global allegiances, unlike other trading and security groupings such as the EU.

Abdulmenan points out that Ethiopia enjoys stronger trade and investment relations with individual BRICS countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and India than with BRICS as a group.

He argues that Ethiopia should be working towards establishing special agreements with BRICS countries to gain benefits similar to those provided by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)—a duty-free trade privilege Ethiopia lost under the Joe Biden administration for rights violations committed during the two-year northern war.

“We have not seen Ethiopia being able to use its BRICS membership to offset the diplomatic and economic benefits and privileges it has been denied from the West,” Abdulmenan said, adding the latest summit dwelt more on politics; reforming traditional global financial institutions, and resolving global conflicts, among other issues of concern.

A number of leaders who attended called for a more balanced, fairer global order.

“Alongside fellow BRICS leaders at this year’s summit in Rio Di Janeiro. Together, we continue to strengthen our partnership in pursuit of a more equitable and just world. The BRICS platform remains vital in advancing shared development and global cooperation,” reads an X post from PM Abiy under a group photo. The Prime Minister took the opportunity also to give his Green Legacy initiative more international recognition and traction and shared it as one of best practices in ‘glocal’ environment protection and conservation endeavors.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was quoted as saying that the BRICS grouping represented an opportunity to shape a more balanced and just international order, calling also for the reformation of what he described as legacy international organizations to reflect changing global realities.

“I also call for a major overhaul of global institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, to better reflect current realities and the needs of developing countries, rather than remaining trapped in outdated post-World War II structures,” he said.

Speaking at Westminster Abbey as part of his state visit to the UK on July 8, French President Emmanuel Macron drew a clear picture of what the Western world deemed desirable in relation to the maintenance of multilateralism.

In his wide-ranging speech, Macron told British lawmakers: “As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, deeply committed to multilateralism, the United Kingdom and France must once again show the world that our alliance can make all the difference. Clearly, we have to work together… to protect the international order as we fought (for) it after the Second World War.”

The French President’s statements delineate the future of multilateralism as seen through the lens of the West.

In a declaration they issued upon the summit’s conclusion, the BRICS countries called for a more balanced and fairer global world order with a reformed United Nations and its decision making organ, the Security Council.

The declaration entitled “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance” is said to have reflected “months of intense coordination, with over 200 meetings held and 200 new cooperation mechanisms created or reinforced in areas such as eradicating hunger, tackling climate change, and developing emerging technologies.”

It reads: “We want to reaffirm our commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusion, collaboration and consensus. Building upon the past 17 BRICS Summits, we are now extending our commitment to strengthening cooperation within the expanded BRICS, based on three pillars of cooperation: politics and security, economy and finance, and cultural and people-to-people cooperation.

“We are also enhancing our strategic partnership to benefit our peoples by promoting peace, a fairer and more representative international order, a revitalized and reformed multilateral system, sustainable development, and inclusive growth.”

Although in their declaration the members also call for increased participation in the bloc of developing countries, particularly those in Africa, analysts say not all the founding members are in total agreement as to the timing and extent of future expansion of membership with the grouping.

China is a major proponent of expansion, aiming to increase its global influence. Other members like South Africa and Russia also support expansion, while India and Brazil initially had reservations.

Some members, like India and Brazil, are concerned about diluting their influence and prefer to reform the existing international order rather than create a counter-bloc. There are also fundamental tensions between those who want to challenge the Western-led order and those who seek to reform it from within, according to analysts and observers.

A blog authored by Maiva D’Auria and published on BRICS webpage reads: “One of the pillars of the declaration is its commitment to addressing ongoing conflicts in various parts of the world, and the current polarization and fragmentation of the international order. The leaders expressed concern over the current trend of sharply rising global military expenditures at the expense of the adequate financing for the development of emerging countries.

“They advocate for a multilateral approach that respects diverse national perspectives and positions on crucial global issues, including sustainable development, hunger and poverty eradication, and global climate action….”

-BRICS Genesis-

The acronym BRIC was conceived in 2001 by an economist from the Goldman Sachs investment bank in recognition of the dynamic economic growth of Brasil, Russia, India, and China, information posted on BRICS website shows. As a cooperation and concertation forum, the BRIC was created by the political initiative of the governments of its founding countries. Its initial goal was to engage in dialog about the major themes in the international agenda and politically strengthen their common stances in order to democratize, legitimize, and balance the global order.

The first BRICS meeting occurred at the Ministers of Foreign Affairs level in 2006, at the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The first meeting of the Summit of Heads of State was held in 2009 in the city of Ekaterinburg, Russia.

As of the 2008 financial crisis, the then four countries began to act in a concerted manner in the context of the G20, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank, presenting proposals to reform the international economic and financial governance to reflect the increased relative weight of emerging countries in the global economy.

With the incorporation of South Africa in 2011, an “S” was added to the original acronym for the group’s first expansion. In 2023, during the Johannesburg Summit, the second expansion was defined, with the adhesion of six new members.

*Samuel Abate contributed to this article

In its ‘Global Humanitarian Overview 2025’ report, OCHA said the world is “on fire.”

“In the first months of the year, conflicts and violence intensified in multiple countries—deepening needs and driving many people to the brink of death—while natural disasters wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people,” the report reads. “Conflict and violence: multiple crises were characterized by systematic violations of international humanitarian law, including mass atrocities, with catastrophic consequences for civilians.”

Forced displacement—primarily driven by conflict—has reached its highest ever levels, according to the report, which notes that the number of people forced to flee persecution, conflict,  violence, and human rights violations rose in 2024, reaching a record 123.2 million people, or one in 67 people globally.

The figure, according to the report, included 83.4 million people who remained internally displaced within their own country as a consequence of conflicts and natural disasters, a 12 percent increase compared to 2023.

“In 2025, refugees continued to flee crises—particularly Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar and Sudan—and internal displacement rose rapidly. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were repeatedly forcibly displaced and confined into ever-shrinking spaces,” the report reads.

In the DRC, the M23 offensive in the east of the country, beginning in January 2025, displaced over a million people. In Burkina Faso, over 60,000 people were internally displaced in April alone and in Colombia; over 50,000 people were displaced in just two weeks due to the Catatumbo crisis.

“With every displacement, urgent shelter needs arise. Shelter is a foundation for survival—without it, people remain exposed to violence, disease, and exploitation. Despite 40 percent of IDPs globally still residing in displacement sites, the support provided to these locations is minimal,” reads the report.

Close to 300 million people are facing high acute food insecurity, according to OCHA.

The report also featured grim realities of gender relationships with the year witnessing rampant sexual violence against women and girls.

“In the DRC, it was estimated that a child is raped every half hour; in Haiti, there was a tenfold increase in sexual violence against children between 2023 and 2024; in Sudan, the scale and brutality of sexual violence escalated, and around 12.1 million people—nearly one in four, most of them women and girls—are now at risk of gender-based violence,” it reads.

The horrifying toll of war on children continued to mount, with 50,000 children reportedly killed or injured in Gaza, between October 2023 and May 2025, and April 2025 marking the deadliest month for children in Ukraine in nearly three years.

“Attacks against health care disrupted vital and life-saving care for millions of people throughout the first months of 2025, with over 500 attacks recorded—over 300 of which involved the use of heavy weapons—across 13 countries and territories,” reads the report. “The use of explosive weapons in urban areas caused devastating harm for civilians and impacted services essential for their survival, including in Myanmar, OPT, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen. It is estimated that some 50 million people suffer the horrific consequences of urban warfare worldwide.”

The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) convened at the end of last month a high-level meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, for a draft review of the draft security policy framework, which its authors hope will be a key step in providing Africans with accessible, affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy.

An ECA press release quoted Robert Lisinge, director of the Technology, Innovation, Connectivity, and Infrastructure Development Division, as having said that the development of a robust energy security strategy was important for Africa’s industrial future.

“The need for a national energy security strategy has been decades in the making and is considered the backbone of Africa’s next level industrialization,” said Lisinge. “But to get there, we need to lay the groundwork with national energy security strategies to address energy insecurities and resultant impacts. The organizations reviewing the draft framework drafted by the ECA are charged with charting the way ahead and developing the overall scope and content of the framework.”

The meeting, held ahead of the 2025 Nuclear Energy Innovation Summit for Africa, examined challenges of supply and high cost of electricity, persistent access gaps, disruptions, inadequate energy infrastructure, financial constraints and geopolitics, according to the release.

Experts also explored regional energy integration and cooperation to ensure energy security and further reviewed the roles of institutional and regulatory frameworks, finance, emerging technologies and innovation, regional interconnections and market integration, and alignment with continental goals such as the Single African Electricity Market, the AfCFTA and Agenda 2063.

In setting the scene, Lisinge, highlighted the importance of the African energy security policy framework and its links to economic development and environmental sustainability. 

“Energy is vital for regional integration and economic development. To successfully implement the proposed common energy policies and strategies, African countries need to prioritize the mobilization of domestic and private sector resources, which are essential for achieving energy independence and resilience,” he said.

Andrew Mold, director of ECA’s Office for Eastern Africa, underlined the significance of affordable electricity for sustainable development.

“The high electricity cost in Africa is mainly hindering economic competitiveness. ECA’s work on the regional energy security framework for Eastern Africa is a foundation for Eastern Africa toward a more secure energy future for the region, and the continental framework will further advance supply of reliable energy to advance economic transformation,” said Mold.

On his part, Peter Kinuthia, senior energy expert at AUDA-NEPAD, emphasized that “the proposed continental energy security policy framework helps to develop a common vision that transforms Africa’s energy landscape towards enhanced energy security to strengthen the foundation for an accelerated sustainable economic development.”

“We aim to have the framework tabled at the upcoming meeting of the AUC Special Technical Committee in Addis Ababa in September 2025. Stakeholders of this agenda have high expectations that it will be adopted following its consideration by the Energy Sub-Committee of the African Union in the first quarter of 2026,” said Lisinge.

A broad spectrum of regional experts attended the meeting, including representatives of Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA), and the African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR) and Central, Western, Eastern and Southern regional power pools, the East African Community, the East African Regulators Association as well as heads of Power Pools and APUA.

After more than a decade of construction, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will be inaugurated in September 2025, according to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

“As the rains subside in late September, we will inaugurate the dam and I would like to convey before Parliament the invitation to Egypt and Sudan and all the other Nile riparian countries,” he said during question time at Parliament today,

Ethiopia has been building the GERD since 2011 on Abbay River [Blue Nile] with ambitions to generate more than 5,000MW of electricity. The project, which has reportedly used up an estimated USD five billion in financing, has long been a source of unease for the lower riparian countries of Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia says it needs the dam for its national development (more than half of Ethiopians live without reliable access to electricity), while Egypt and Sudan argue the project will impact their “historical” water rights.

The PM reiterated the Ethiopian government’s stance that the GERD project has no intention of harming downstream countries and told MPs it will not cause any significant water shortages in Egypt.

“Egypt has not lost a litter of water because of the dam.” he told lawmakers.

The 2015 Declaration of Principles (DoP) was a major milestone in the tripartite negotiations between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, unequivocally reserving Ethiopia’s right to carry on with the project in tandem with trilateral consultations.

A recently ratified Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) among the Nile riparian countries – Egypt and Sudan stayed out of the fold – is expected to lead to a top level inter-governmental authority that will determine the management and fair and reasonable utilization of the Nile waters.

Nile riparian countries have long held issue with the hegemonic use of the Nile waters by Egypt and Sudan in lieu of colonial period  treaties of 1929 and 1959 through which the two countries share the annual flow between themselves, leaving zilch for upper riparian countries.

With general elections looming large, Medrek – a Coalition of four political parties sounded the alarm about what it described as a “narrowing of the political space” in Ethiopia to date.

This came in Medrek’s press release over the weekend issued upon the conclusion of the coalition’s 17th General Assembly, a meeting in which it introduced it’s leadership in what it claimed was a re-invigoration of the 15 year old party.

While maintaining a degree of optimism about the upcoming elections as it prepares to participate in it, Medrek however, said it was clear-eyed to the lack also of independence of key democratic institutions and “the ongoing pressure faced by opposition parties”.

“This includes the harassment and imprisonment of members and closure of party offices, which have previously forced members out of elections,” it said.

Formed in 2010, Medrek is a coalition of federalist parties, including Arena Tigray (Arena), the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), the Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM), and the Afar People’s Justice and Democracy parties. 

The Assembly the release said, elected Amdom Gebreselassie as Chairman, Sultan Kassim as deputy chair in charge of public relations, Meryem Hassen as deputy chairwoman in charge of finance, Mulatu Gemechu as first deputy chair in charge of public and civic affairs, professor Merera Gudina as deputy chair in charge of foreign affairs, among other top party execs. 

“As citizens increasingly seek credible and unifying political alternatives, Medrek’s proven model of multi ethnic collaboration and it’s roster of influential and respected leaders provide a powerful platform for positive change,” Amdom is quoted as saying.

General parliamentary elections are slated for May 2026.

During the past several decades Ethiopia sees  polarized political policies with some advocating for the continuity of the present ethnic federalism while others demand a citizenship based political dispensation.