When Ethiopia laid the foundation for the construction of GERD in 2011, it was not just building Africa's largest hydroelectric project but it was declaring that time has come to Ethiopia to utilize its resources independently of others. Moreover, the GERD represents something far more profound, the natural right of African countries to develop their own resources for their own people.

Egypt's response was both immediate and predictable. Cairo exercised every means at its disposal to strangle the project. However, Ethiopians vigilantly rallied behind GERD, achieving the project to even become an even more powerful symbol of African self-reliance. Egypt's attempts to strangle the GERD only strengthened Ethiopian resolve.

The argument that the GERD is a threat to Egypt is an unsubstantiated claim used to mask its hatred to Ethiopia. The volume of water lost to evaporation in Egypt's desert reservoirs each year exceeds what Ethiopia needs for development. Lake Nasser alone loses more water to evaporation each year than all of Ethiopia's planned dam projects combined would divert. The real threat to Egypt's water security is not Ethiopia's inevitable development; it is Egypt's own inefficiency and colonial mindset.

Present-day Ethiopia is not the weak nation Egypt has sought to be for decades. Ethiopia is rising. The GERD is already generating electricity, inspiring African nations to follow suit. The time for ancient enmity and colonial-mindset of hegemony is over. Egypt must see the shift and choose cooperation, not confrontation. The way forward is cooperation; not aggression.