Browsing: Nile

Egypt and Sudan, both of which are located further downstream on the Nile, on the one hand, and Ethiopia, which is located upstream on the Blue Nile, on the other, have been engaged in a protracted disagreement on the construction of the GERD.

The two former countries are dependent on the waters of the Nile, and they are afraid that the reservoir being filled behind the dam will reduce the amount of water available to them. The reservoir has a capacity of 74 cubic kilometres, which is equivalent to 1.6 years of the average flow of the Blue Nile.

The Nile provides Egypt with 90 per cent of its fresh water and is essential to the country’s agricultural and power generation systems.

It is estimated that the filling will take seven years to complete, with the first two stages already having been finished. According to statements made before the end …

I can vividly remember sitting in a Nairobi classroom in Kenya and scribbling away my discussion to validate that assertion. I also clearly remember answering the same question in Ordinary Level Secondary school in Jinja, Uganda and when I returned to my country of birth, Tanzania, I again had to respond to the same question in Advanced Level High School.

My explanation was simple, Egypt is a dessert country and its main source of fresh water is the Nile. Without the Nile, they would be no Egypt…

It was the correct answer; the answer that my teacher liked and am sure so does Egypt. What of the countries of East Africa, the source of the Nile. Well, the teaching goes, they too need the Nile, but since they are tropic countries that receive considerable amount of annual rains, they don’t need the Nile as much as Egypt does.

That is …