Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in a statement read on state television, lauded the completion of the first round of filling as a historic moment that has shown to the rest of the world that Ethiopia could stand firm with its two legs from now onward. Ethiopia’s announcement that it had hit its first-year target for filling the dam came Tuesday as the three countries were participating in talks overseen by the African Union to try to resolve the dispute.

The Ethiopian government attributes to heavy rains for first filling of the dam’s reservoir. Abiy’s statement said. “We have successfully completed the first dam filling without bothering and hurting anyone else. Now the dam is overflowing downstream.” He added “The fact that we reached this milestone by our own efforts when no one else believed in our capabilities to accomplish such initiatives makes the moment even more historic”.

By filling the reservoir with 4.9 billion cubic metres of water, Ethiopia is now in a position to test its first two turbines — an important step on the way toward actually producing energy. The two turbines will begin generating power next year.

Addis Ababa has long said it would begin filling the reservoir this month even without a deal as the rainy season floods the Blue Nile. But the Tuesday statement said leaders agreed to pursue “further technical discussions on the filling … and proceed to a comprehensive agreement.”