THE RIVER NILE

AND THE CONFLICT BETWEEN

EHTIOPIA AND EGYPT
9/12/16

STUDENT C E-09A
MYP Individuals and Societies

Mr. Soeldner
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. General Information on the Nile River..
3. Map/Location.
4. Ancient Egypt and the Nile..
4.1. Modern Egypt and the Nile.
5. The Conflict Between Egypt and Ethiopia
5.1. The Effect on People
5.2. The Effect on the Environment
5.3. How The Conflict is Being Resolved..
5.4. What Can Be Done..
6. Conclusion.
7. Action Plan
8. References.

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 1. INTRODUCTION

The river Nile is one of the most well known and longest rivers in the world. Ancient
Egypt grew as a well and prosperous civilization, while they depended on the Nile River
as their main source of resources. The ancient Egyptians depended greatly on the river
for water, and the fertile land around the river for growing crops, and means of
transportation. As important as it was in the times of ancient Egypt, the river Nile is still
as important as it was back then as it is today. There are very important and
controversial conflicts now over the dams which are being created in the Nile river. This
can badly affect the Egyptians living there today, as the Nile river is still a major water
source. It is said that the Egyptians may have to leave Egypt, if the river Nile stops to
flow.

2. GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE NILE

RIVER

The Nile river, which is located in Northern Africa is 6,650 km long (4132.12 miles),
and is believed to be the longest river in the world, next to the Amazon river (6,400 km)
in South America and the Yangtze river (6,300 km) in China. The river passes through
eight countries; Kenya, Eritrea, Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt,
Sudan and Ethiopia. Half of Egypts population, which is approximately 82 million as
of 2013, lives along the Nile river, on the Nile delta which is approximately 40 million
people. The word Nile comes from the Greek word neilos which means river. The
Niles average discharge of water is 3.1 million litres per second.

There are two tributaries which are along the river, that merge in Sudan which are called
the white Nile and the blue Nile. The white Nile, is the main stream and is bigger than
the blue Nile, and increases in size in an area that is called the Great Lakes Region. On
the other hand, the blue Niles main source is the Lake Tana which is located in
Ethiopia. The blue Nile gets its name because during the flood seasons, the current gets
higher and the water starts to turn a blackish colour, and in the Sudanese language, the
translation for the word black is blue. The Nile river, then ends in a delta and then
empties out into the Mediterranean sea.

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 3. MAP/LOCATION

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.1 shows the Nile river from an overhead map, which shows us the Blue and the
White Nile; the two main tributaries. The map above also shows the countries, that the
Nile surpasses, and all of the lakes linking to the Nile. We can see the many lakes such
as Lake Tana, Lake Albert, and Lake Kyoga which are all linked in the river Nile.

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 4. ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE NILE

The ancient Egyptians, depended on the river Nile for the fast growth of their
civilization. Back then, the Egyptians knew exactly when the river Nile would flood,
and according to this they depended on the annual flooding in order to know when to
water the crops and make the soil rich. In Egypt, it barely rains, and this is the main
reason why they depended so much on the Nile, for a water source. The crops which
were the most important, were; wheat (a staple food made into bread and other
carbohydrates), flax (used for making linen clothing), and papyrus (a plant that they
wove to make baskets, sandals, and ropes).

The annual flooding would last around 3 months, from June to September. The ancient
Egyptians believed that the flood was caused by the goddess Isis (the ancient Egyptian
goddess of the sky), as her tears flooded the Nile river as she cried for Osiris (the ancient
Egyptian god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld), her husband. Their whole
culture revolved around the river, as it was very important to them. They also used the
Nile as means of transport, traveling up and down the river in boats for trading purposes.
The pharaohs would sail in expensive ships that were built for them, along the Nile.
Basing their culture around the Nile, would mean that this would also impact their
religion. The ancient Egyptians were said to believe that the Nile river was the road they
took when going from life to death, and going to the afterlife. They believed that the
place of death was in the West, and the place of life and birth was in the East, and this is
the reason why burial tombs are built in the West of the Nile river.

4.1. MODERN EGYPT AND THE NILE

In modern day Egypt, Egyptians still depend greatly on the Nile for water and the
fertilization of their crops. Transportation is still a way the river Nile is being used
today, but now it is used not only for general use on boats for trading purposes just as the
ancient Egyptians did, but now tourists (as Egypt is a famous tourist attraction) can also
travel up and down the Nile.

5. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN EGYPT AND

ETHIOPIA

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In 1929, Great Britain made an agreement between Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan,
which stated that Egypt would get a right to monitor the flow of the Nile in the upstream
countries, and also the right to veto construction projects that would affect Egypt. This
means that Egypt is allowed to stop projects that might be harmful to Egypt and affect
Egypt in a bad way. This agreement also allowed Egypt to utilize 48 billion cubic
meters and Sudan to utilize 4 billion cubic meters of the Nile flow annually. Later, in
1959, the agreement was written again to allow Egypt to have 55.5 billion cubic meters
and Sudan to have 18.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile flow annually. Unfortunately,
these agreements only allowed flow of water to Sudan and Egypt, and not other
countries. Ethiopia contributes to 80% of the total Nile flow, but in this agreement, they
did not allow Ethiopia any water flow as part of the agreement. Egypt and the other
countries which also have the flow from the Nile river, thought of this as unequal. Then,
since May 2010, Ethiopia and other countries, have made the Nile Basin Cooperative
Framework Agreement in order to equalize the amount of water being distributed to the
other countries from the Nile.

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.1 above shows where the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is located, which
is on the blue Nile, and clearly where it is being created in Ethiopia.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a gravity dam that is located on the Blue Nile
River in Ethiopia which is under construction at the moment. When and if completed it
will be the largest hydroelectric power plant dam in Africa, with 6,000 MW (megawatt).
The dam will take around 5 15 years to fill up completely with water. There is a lot of
controversy with the construction of this dam, as Egypt heavily depends on the water

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from the Nile river, and although they have told the Government of Ethiopia to cease the
construction of the dam, Ethiopia will not recognize that Egypt has historical rights over
the river. Many other countries such as China, Italy and Norway are in support of
Ethiopia and this dam however. On the other hand, Sudan and the other countries part of
the Nile Basin Initiative are also in support of the construction of the dam, as they feel
that Egypt is provoking the situation. This has led to Egypt being accused of being
unreasonable.

5.1. THE EFFECT ON PEOPLE

When constructing the dam, the many people who have been living near the dam, are
being forced to relocate to another place. According to an independent researcher,
nearly 20,000 people in Egypt are having to be relocated, and many of them do not know
what a dam is and have never seen one before. This is a very important crisis, because if
20,000 people are having to be relocated to another place, it could take a long time to
find another place for these people, and the government would have to spend a lot of
time, money and effort just to fix this problem, which is unnecessary.

5.2. THE EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

The construction of the dam will have a large impact on Ethiopia as well as on Sudan
and Egypt. In Ethiopia one of the large and most important effect the dam will have on
the environment is the reduction of crops. The dam will reduce the downstream flooding
of the blue Nile, and this will mean that although the flooding will not damage any crops
and vegetation, it will instead deprive the crops that are planted in the river valley
downstream (which is a 40 km stretch) from being watered. This can lead to a crisis of
food shortage, and this is also another problem which could be easily prevented if the
dam was not put into effect.

There are also many problems in Egypt that are concerning the dam at the moment,
which are not precisely known. Egypt is scared that due to permanent reduction from
the evaporation of the water from the reservoir and the filling of the dam with water, that
there will be a temporary water reduction. With the major loss of the downstream
flooding, when filling the reservoir, the flow of water from the Nile can be temporarily
reduced. This can largely effect the 2 million farmers working downstream as their
crops will fail, and their income will be affected. As mentioned earlier, another
unnecessary problem caused by the first problem. The crops will lead to a food shortage,

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which could be fixed by imported a lot of food from another neighboring country, but
this would waste the governments money. And as for the 2 million farmers without their
incomes, they would not be able to get by, and could result in poverty and will end up
being a crisis as there would be 2 million people with their families in debt, which would
be another problem to the government. Above all of this, Egypts electricity supply can
be affected by 25 40 % during the time of construction.

Another problem is electricity. In 2010, only 12% of the total electricity production in
Egypt was hydropower, and this will lead to an overall less then 3% of Egyptian
electricity production.

Another problem is that in Lake Nasser, a permanent lowering of the water level can
occur, if instead of storing the floods in Egypt and Sudan, they are instead stored in
Ethiopia. This leads to another problem. The problem is that the current evaporation
would be reduced by more than 100 billion cubic meters per year, and in the future this
can lead to great shortages in Egypt and Sudan. The shortages from the increased
storage in Ethiopia, can lead to many years of future drought which can be prevented if
the countries come to an agreement.

5.3. HOW THE CONFLICT IS BEING RESOLVED

In March 2015, the leaders of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt have finally signed a deal to
end the long running dispute over the Nile river, and the construction of the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. This means that they are agreeing to share the water
between themselves. Although it is evident that Ethiopia and Sudan, and the
neighboring countries connected to the Nile, fail to see that Egypt has historical rights
over the river Nile, and that they should get their fair share of the water. Egypt seems
to think that once Ethiopia has finished the construction of the dam (if that ever will
happen, as it is on hold at the moment), they will use the water as their benefit only, and
this can be a major problem as the Egyptians depend on the water from the downstream
flow. This will impact the Egyptians, as their water source will be gone.

5.4. WHAT CAN BE DONE

There is little that can be done about the problem as a whole, but little by little over the
years the problem may come to an end. Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia need to come to a
conclusion that doesnt harm and negatively effect their environment and their people,

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and instead benefits all three of the countries in a good way which would boost their
economy and the lives of their people. If in the end, they can not come up with an
acceptable answer to this problem, they may have to stop the construction of the dam as
a whole and to find another way to equally share the water. The countries may need to
talk to the governments of the other countries, where the Nile flows through as well, in
order for all of the countries to get a fair share of water.

6. CONCLUSION

For thousands of years, Egypt has depended on the Nile river for water and to grow their
country into a prosperous civilization, and now with the conflict between Sudan and
Egypt, they need to come to a conclusion fast in order to maintain the way they live at
the moment. It is very important to quickly solve this issue, as many people live in
Egypt and without their water source, they will no longer be able to survive, and all the
millions of people in Egypt will have to reside somewhere else. All of the millions of
people residing to other countries, such as Israel or other nearby countries, can lead to
another problem, which is this time more global; the refugee crisis. If the three
countries, can not come up to a solution soon, it will not just affect the millions of people
living in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Egypt at the moment, but it will soon affect the world, as
thousands of people go to other countries seeking refuge.

7. ACTION PLAN

The main research question What is the main conflict between

Ethiopia and Egypt and how is the
problem being solved?

Justification for research question The conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt
can affect the world and the people living
in these affected countries.

Sub questions - Where is the conflict happening?

- What can we do to solve this
problem?
- Who are being affected by the
conflict?
- What are the main effects of the
conflict?

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 - What are other people/countries
doing about this problem?

Methods to be used in the investigation - Websites

- Capture Sheet
- Charts/graphs/tables/photos
- To check at least 3 cites before
writing down the information to
check that it is accurate.

Identify the relevant sources/evidence that Websites that I have used are in the
you will use references below. I have only used
websites in this report.

What steps will you follow to See below evaluation table.

address/answer the research questions

Evaluation 1. The timing and the management

of how much time I spent on the
capture sheet was good because
after I had all of the information, I
could just write it down clearly on
the report.
2. The results of the investigation
was good because I understood
the conflict in a very clear way
and I could easily write it down
into paragraph form in the report.
3. If I were to do it again, I would
plan to start a bit earlier and get
more information about the
history and the background and
about more of the dams to
understand in a deeper sense.

Task Completion date Checklist

Where is the conflict 10th January DONE

happening?

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 What are the main effects 10th January DONE
of the conflict?

Who are being affected by 12th January DONE

the conflict?

What can we do to solve 12th January DONE

this problem?

What are other 10th January DONE

people/countries doing
about this problem?

8. REFERENCES

Figure 1.1
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/River_Nile_map.svg/256p
x-River_Nile_map.svg.png

Figure 2.1

http://welkait.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ethio.png

Alhadeff, Author Iakovos. The Conflict Between Egypt and Ethiopia over the
Nile River. Iakovos Alhadeff, 9 Aug. 2015, iakal.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/the-
conflict-between-egypt-and-ethiopia-over-the-nile/.

Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian History for Kids: Geography and the Nile
River, www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_egypt/geography_nile_river.php.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan Sign Deal to End Nile Dispute. BBC News, BBC,
23 Mar. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32016763.

Facts about the River Nile for Kids. Facts about the River Nile for Kids,
www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/egypt/nile.htm.

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 Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam . welkait.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/ethio.png.

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam.

Nile Facts and Information for Kids. Nile Facts and Information for Kids,
www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/rivers/nile.htm.

Nile River Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about the Nile River. Nile River
Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about the Nile River,
www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/nileriver.html.

OPINION: Egypt and Ethiopia Spar over the Nile. Al Jazeera America,
america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/egypt-disputes-ethiopiarenaissancedam.html.

River Nile Facts - History for Kids. River Nile Facts - History for Kids,
www.historyforkids.net/river-nile.html.

Water Politics in the Nile Basin. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_politics_in_the_Nile_Basin.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi
a/commons/thumb/2/25/River_Nile_map.svg/256px-River_Nile_map.svg.png.

Wuilbercq, Emeline. Ethiopia's Nile Dam Project Signals Its Intention to

Become an African Power. The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 July 2014,
www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/14/ethiopia-grand-renaissance-dam-
egypt.

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