Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and Tribunals to Adjudicate the Great Renaissance Dam Dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt

Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country located in East Africa with the fastest growing economy in the world. Historical documents demonstrate Ethiopia’s ambition to utilize the Nile River. Due to past financial constraints and volatile political instability, Ethiopia’s long-awaited dam on the Nile River is finally being constructed. Ethiopia commenced the construction of the largest dam in Africa called Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in 2011. Ethiopia’s commencement of the GERD met strong opposition from Egypt and creates diplomatic strife between both countries. Egypt persistently invokes an exclusive historical right over the Nile River derived from colonial treaties. Ethiopia completed the GERD on September 2025 at the cost of 5 billion US dollars. Consequently, Egypt escalated the dispute to the United Nations Security Council because the GERD had been completed and commissioned without a consensus by Egypt and Ethiopia on the utilization of the River Nile. Besides this, during the 80th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, Egypt emphasized its readiness to refer the issue of the GERD to international judicial bodies or arbitration, unless Ethiopia refrained from taking unilateral measures. This article examines the international legal frameworks that govern the situation and whether they bind Ethiopia to appear before the International Court of Justice or international tribunal to adjudicate the GERD dispute. This article takes the view that international law does not compel Ethiopia to appear before the court or international arbitration tribunals to defend its use of the Nile for the construction of the GERD.