Kenya and Egypt crossed diplomatic paths this week, barely a day after Nairobi publicly backed Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
President William Ruto, fresh from attending the dam's inauguration near the Sudanese border, received the credentials of Cairo's new ambassador in Nairobi, Hatem Yousri Hosni —a symbolic reminder of the delicate Nile politics Kenya must now navigate.
At the GERD launch on Tuesday, Ruto delivered one of his most pointed geopolitical speeches yet.
Kenya, long courted by Cairo to oppose the project, has instead aligned with Addis Ababa. Standing alongside Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed, he hailed the dam as a "bold affirmation" of Africa's capacity to "shape its own destiny."
He praised Ethiopia for mobilising $5 billion domestically to build Africa's largest hydroelectric project "without borrowing, without support from others," and urged Cairo and Khartoum to engage trilaterally with Addis Ababa in pursuit of an equitable water-sharing deal.
"Money raised by Ethiopians to build this monumental project gives us confidence in our ability as a people to command our own development," he said.
The symbolism was not lost on observers: Ethiopia, having locked in its control of the dam, is reshaping Nile politics, while Egypt and Sudan look increasingly isolated.
For Nairobi, the tilt toward Addis Ababa underscores a pragmatic recalibration of interests—an embrace of regional solidarity at Cairo's expense.
Alongside Egypt's envoy, Ruto also accepted the credentials of ambassadors from Slovenia, Hungary, Uzbekistan and others.
