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G.S. 3
Mahesh

30/05/22 09:45 AM IST

Conflict over River Nile

  • WHAT
  • WHY
  • WHEN
  • WHERE
  • WHO
  • HOW
What is the dispute about?
  • The Nile, Africa’s longest river, has been at the center of a decade-long complex dispute involving several countries that are dependent on the river’s waters.
  • At the forefront of this dispute are Ethiopia and Egypt, with Sudan having found itself dragged into the issue.
  • Spearheaded by Ethiopia, the 145-meter-tall (475-foot-tall) Grand Renaissance Dam hydropower project, when completed, will be Africa’s largest.
  • The main waterways of the Nile run through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt, and its drainage basin runs through several countries in East Africa, including Ethiopia, the portion where this dam is being constructed.
  • The construction of the dam was initiated in 2011 on the Blue Nile tributary of the river that runs across one part of Ethiopia.
  • The Nile is a necessary water source in the region and Egypt has consistently objected to the dam’s construction, saying it will impact water flow.
  • The long-standing dispute has been a cause of concern for international observers who fear that it may increase conflict between the two nations and spill out into other countries in the Horn of Africa.

 Dispute regarding Aswan Dam

  • At a dramatic ceremony in southern Egypt on 14 May 1964, President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, along with President Arif of Iraq and President Sallal of Yemen, pressed a button to blow up a huge sand barrage and divert the ancient River Nile into a canal, allowing the next stage of the Dam to begin.
  • The dam was financed and built with Russian help and thousands of cheering Egyptian and Russian construction workers witnessed great columns of sand shoot up into the air, followed by a cascade of muddy Nile water swirl through a manmade channel.
  • The next stage of the construction of the Aswan High Dam had begun, boosting Nasser’s popular appeal, and bringing him on the verge of fulfilling his most ambitious promise.
  • After centuries of theorizing and fantasizing, it seemed now the Egyptians could actually control the flow of Nile.
  • Standing alongside the presidents of Egypt, Iraq and Yemen on a platform above the 300-foot gorge, Khrushchev said the dam should be called "the eighth wonder of the world". Khrushchev also condemned "imperialist powers and their agents" and reiterated Soviet plans to strengthen ties with Arab nations.
  • In a barely veiled attack on Britain, France and the United States, he said all traces of imperialism should be wiped out from the region by getting rid of military bases, multinational companies and foreign missionaries.
  • Referring to the United States' refusal to fund the dam back in 1956, President Nasser said "reactionary powers" had conspired to prevent the building of the dam but that Egyptian and Russian solidarity had overcome all obstacles.
  • Khrushchev also announced President Nasser would receive Russia's highest honour - Hero of the Soviet Union.
  • The project, due to be completed in four years' time (but the Dam would be completed seven years later), was expected to increase arable land in Egypt by one third, more than double its current power resources, add £200m to the national income and create the world's largest man-made lake - Lake Nasser.
Why Egypt was insisting for a dam on River Nile ?
  • The Nile forms northern Africa’s tree of life. Waters from nearly 3 million square kilometers of Africa feed the Nile.
  • Yet the river’s average yearly flow is less than 2% of the mighty volumes that gush into the Atlantic each year from the Amazon.
  • Where the Amazon produces an average of 730,000 cubic meters of water per each square kilometer of its drainage basin, the Nile manages less than 30,000 cubic meters per square kilometer.
  • But even this seemingly poor flow is a saviour in a land as dry as northern Africa. People have clung to the lifeline of the Nile for at least 7,000 years.
  • The earliest humans to live along the Nile relied on the yearly flood, just as do modern occupants of the river valley. Egypt cannot exist without the Nile.
  • Before the building of a dam at Aswan, Egypt experienced annual floods from the Nile River that deposited four million tons of nutrient-rich sediment which enabled agricultural production.
  • This process began millions of years before Egyptian civilization began in the Nile River valley and continued until the first dam at Aswan was built in 1889 with British help. What is now called the Aswan Low Dam or the Old Aswan Dam was, at that time, the largest masonry dam in the world.
  • This dam was insufficient to hold back the water of the Nile and was subsequently raised in 1912 and 1933.
  • In 1946, the true danger was revealed when the water in the reservoir peaked near the top of the dam.
  • In addition to regulating the Nile's flow, a large dam could store water for Egypt's dry season, and rushing waters flowing from the dam could provide Egypt with a free supply of hydroelectricity.
  • Following the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952, new president Gamal Abdel Nasser viewed a new, larger dam as politically and economically vital for Egypt. He decided to build a High Dam at Aswan, about four miles upstream of the old dam.
When did the Americans stepped down from building the dam?
  • The United States, along with Britain and the World Bank, had originally offered to provide $268 million to fund the dam’s construction.
  • The US, looking to counter Soviet influence in the Middle East, offered to finance the construction of a dam as well as provide arms shipments to Egypt, on the condition that the weapons be used only defensively and that the U.S. supervise all training.
  • Nasser, attempting to keep Egypt independent from U.S. or Soviet influence as well as increase Egyptian regional clout, protested.
  • On September 27, 1955, Nasser announced an arms deal with Czechoslovakia.
  • This deal, along with Egypt’s diplomatic recognition of Communist China, angered US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who saw Nasser as playing the United States and the Soviet Union against each other.
  • On July 19, 1956, the State Department announced that the U.S. was withdrawing funding for the dam.
  • A week later, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, triggering a military response from Israel, Britain, and France.
  • After the United States and Britain decided to pull funding for the Aswan High Dam in 1956, Nasser responded by nationalizing the Suez Canal that links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It had been under British protection since the 19th century and had developed into a vital passageway for oil.
  • Britain believed that it could not afford to lose control of the canal. Prime Minister Anthony Eden developed a plot with France and Israel — without alerting the U.S. — to regain control of the canal.
  • Under the plan, Israel would invade Egypt, and Britain and France would step in to “protect” the canal.
  • Israel invaded on October 29, 1956; the following day Britain and France issued an ultimatum to both sides to end the fighting.
  • The plan would have succeeded if not for the disapproval of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.
  • ngered that Britain and France were disrupting relations in the Middle East, he ordered them to evacuate, which they did in December.
  • The Suez Crisis is commonly cited as the end of two imperial powers; it “meant that no longer could Britain — or France — act alone on the world stage,” writes the BBC’s Paul Reynolds.
  • Eden’s successor, Harold Macmillan, determined that Britain must closely ally itself with the U.S. at all times and “Since then, Britain has been reluctant to oppose any US policy.” France, meanwhile, moved away from Britain and the U.S. and towards Germany and continental Europe.
  • “The war’s ultimate victors,” writes Wilfred P. Deac in Military History magazine, “were Egypt and the Soviet Union. Nasser, who left to himself might never have gained the stature he did, emerged a hero of the Muslim world. Egypt’s ownership of the Suez Canal was affirmed.
  • The Soviet Union, after long peering through the keyhole of a closed door on what it considered a Western sphere of influence, now found itself invited over the threshold as a friend of the Arabs.”
  • The Soviet Union offered to help construct the Aswan High Dam, and Egypt accepted it happily.
  • The Soviet Union's support was not unconditional, however. Along with the money, they also sent military advisers and other workers to help enhance Egyptian-Soviet ties and relations.
Where did the final credit for the dam came from?
  • Soviet loans and proceeds from Suez Canal tolls allowed Nasser to begin work on the Aswan High Dam in 1960.
  • Some 57 million cubic yards of earth and rock were used to build the dam, which has a mass 16 times that of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
  • In order to build the Aswan Dam, both people and artifacts had to be moved.
  • The formation of Lake Nasser required the resettlement of 90,000 Egyptian peasants and Sudanese Nubian nomads, as well as the costly relocation of the ancient Egyptian temple complex of Abu Simbel, built in the 13th century B.C.
  • On July 21, 1970, the ambitious project was completed fulfilling a long-held dream of the people of Egypt. However, the architect of this symbol of Egypt’s resurgence would not get to inaugurate it.
  • President Nasser had died of a heart attack in September 1970, before the dam was formally dedicated in 1971.
  • At the lavish dedication ceremony, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat cut the ceremonial ribbon as a band played and doves were released.
  • In attendance was Nikolai Podgorny, head of the Soviet legislature, as the USSR had lent $554 million towards the dam’s $800-million construction.
  • Soviet funding and ingenuity were key to building the rock-fill dam – a feat that took more than a decade – with Egyptian towns and villages finding themselves with electricity for the first time, largely thanks to Soviet assistance in building the transmission networks.
Who benefitted from the construction of the dam?
  • The Aswan High Dam brought the Nile’s devastating floods to an end, reclaimed more than 100,000 acres of desert land for cultivation, and made additional crops possible on some 800,000 other acres.
  • The dam’s 12 giant Soviet-built turbines produce as much as 10 billion kilowatt-hours annually, providing a tremendous boost to the Egyptian economy and introducing 20th-century life into many villages. By solving a centuries-old problem of flooding and drought, the damming of the Nile gave Egyptian agriculture a massive boost – allowing farmers to protect their crops by regulating the amount of water allowed into their fields.
  • The water stored in Lake Nasser, several trillion cubic feet, is shared by Egypt and Sudan and was crucial during the African drought years of 1984 to 1988. Half of Egypt’s electricity production came from the dam when the output was at its peak. In 1998, it contributed around 15% of Egypt’s total electricity productio.
  • The water from Lake Nasser provided new fishing areas.
  • The Aswan Dam also makes it possible for Egyptian farmers to grow an extra crop each year by releasing water into the Nile during the dry season.
  • The dam has also helped tourism in Egypt because the height of the Nile is now reliable enough for cruise ships to travel the ancient river's waters throughout most of the year.
  • The Nile River and the Aswan High Dam are Egypt's lifelines. About 95% of Egypt's population lives within twelve miles of the river.
  • The dam benefits Egypt by controlling the annual floods on the Nile and prevents the damage that used to occur along the floodplain.
  • The Aswan High Dam provides about a half of Egypt's power supply and has improved navigation along the river by keeping the water flow consistent.
How has the dam protected the environment?
  • Claire Sterling calls it “more damn than dam”. With so much politics and grand-standing around its construction, there was hardly any focus on the environmental aspects of this huge project. The results of this negligence are evident today.
Agriculture
  • Agriculture in the delta has traditionally benefited from the water and silt deposited by the flood (this silt comes from eroding basalt lava in the Ethiopian highlands). This silt made the Nile delta one of the richest agricultural areas in the world and the basis of one of the most ancient human civilizations.
  • Irrigation and more intensive farming post 1971, combined with inadequate drainage, has created swamps. The rise in water tables has led to accumulation of harmful salts, fertilizers, and pesticides in the upper layers of the soil.
  • Farmers have been forced to use about a million tons of artificial fertilizer as a substitute for the nutrients that no longer fill the flood plain.
  • Poor drainage of the newly irrigated lands has led to soil saturation and increased salinity.
  • Over half of Egypt's farmland is now rated medium to poor in quality. The high cost of developing drainage systems is the main problem.
  • The water table has risen since the dam was built, increasing the danger of fertilizer and other agricultural waste products seeping into the river, which is the main source of drinking water for the local population.
  • Why would the water table rise? All soil is permeable, so water will always leak out of the lake.
  • The lake essentially forces water into the surrounding soils when it is full, and then water can flow back into the lake when it is low.
 Diseases
  • The parasitic disease schistosomiasis has been associated with the stagnant water of the fields and the reservoir.
  • Some studies indicate that the number of affected individuals has increased since the opening of the High Dam.
  • Human issues - Antiquities and resettlement of the Nubians
  • In order to build the dam, both people and artifacts had to be moved. Over 90,000 (by some estimates over 120,000) Nubians had to be relocated.
  • Those who had been living in Egypt were moved about 28 miles (45 km) away, but the Sudanese Nubians were relocated 370 miles (600 km) from their homes. The resettlement program was carried out very quickly, with severe consequences for the 50,000 farmers who had to abandon their land.
  • Their settlement, called New Nubia, was far from arable land.
  • Like the northern Nile valley, agriculture in Nubia had traditionally been based on the annual flood of the rivers.
  • The regulation of the rivers put an end to this kind of farming. In addition, arable land was submerged by the reservoir. The people tried to farm the riverbank instead, causing increased erosion. Efforts to start a system of rotation of crops clashed with tradition and did not work out.
  • These problems are, of course, typical of any large dam. At present, thousands of studies on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) of large dams are available, some of which are quite good; but many others are not.

 

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