Compilation of clips shows dams in South Africa and Brazil, not Ethiopia’s new Nile River project

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced in July 2025 that the multi-billion-dollar Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project would be inaugurated in September 2025. Following this announcement, a post published on Facebook claims to show footage of the dam in operation ahead of its inauguration. However, this is misleading; the video shows dams in South Africa and Brazil.

The post contains a text overlay in Amharic, which translates to: “This is happening in Meskrem 2018 E.C: the inauguration of the GERD dam and the start of oil production will take place together.”

Meskerem 2018 in the Ethiopian calendar is equivalent to September 2025.

The post was originally published on TikTok and has been shared more than 110 times since it was reposted to Facebook on July 4, 2025.

The 53-second video features a male news presenter reporting on an announcement made by Abiy in early July. Footage of various dam facilities display on the screen over the audio.

“Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told members of parliament during the 42nd ordinary session that Ethiopia will begin marketing oil starting next September,” the presenter says.

“In addition, he confirmed that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be inaugurated this coming September.”

The GERD

On July 3, 2025, Abiy announced the completion of the multi-billion-dollar mega-dam on the Blue Nile and said it would be officially inaugurated in September 2025 (archived here).

Launched in 2011 with a $4 billion budget, the GERD is considered Africa’s largest hydroelectric project. The dam wall spans 1.8 kilometres (1.1 miles) and is 145 metres (475 feet) high.

While Addis Ababa views the dam as essential to its national electrification program, it has been a source of tension with downstream countries Egypt and Sudan, who fear it could threaten their water supply from the Nile (archived here).

However, the video does not show Ethiopia’s new dam, set for inauguration in September.

Gariep Dam

AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video and established that none of the clips featured show the GERD.

Search results indicate that the first 12 seconds of the video show the Gariep Dam, located between the Free State and Eastern Cape provinces in South Africa.

The footage was published on TikTok on January 30, 2021, with the English caption: “Gariep Dam 30/01/2021, 114% Full.”

The length of the video also exactly matches the footage in the misleading clip.

Search results also led to similar videos here and here showing the Gariep Dam overflowing (archived here and here).

AFP Fact Check further verified the dam’s location by comparing features visible in the video with satellite imagery on Google Maps (archived here).

The spillway, crest and surrounding greenery all align with features visible in the video.

Pictures of the Gariep Dam wall on stock photo site Shutterstock also match the structure in the clip (archived here).

Funil hydro plant

Search results confirmed that the portion of the clip from 13 to 40 seconds features the Funil Hydroelectric Power Plant — a Brazilian dam located on the Paraíba do Sul River in Resende, Rio de Janeiro.

The segment was uploaded to YouTube on October 6, 2023, with the title, “Opening of the spillway gate at the Funil hydroelectric plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil” (archived here).

It was also published on X on November 3, 2023, with the caption: “Spillway gates at the Funil Hydroelectric Power Plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, serve the crucial function of releasing surplus water from the reservoir (archived here).”

AFP Fact Check again corroborated these findings by comparing features visible in the video with satellite imagery on Google Maps.

The dam’s distinctive circular spillway gate, the large road in front of the spillway, and the surrounding forest all match the footage.

Meanwhile, AFP file photos of the GERD taken during construction in 2022 show that it is structurally different from the dams seen in the Facebook clip.