Marlene Lobel Micheal Soeldner, I&S Class E-9A

THE RIVER NILE

The Conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt

Figure 1: The Nile River (flickr.com)

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Marlene Lobel Micheal Soeldner, I&S Class E-9A

Table of Contents
1.INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................3
2.RIVER SYSTEM OVERVIEW...........................................................................................................3
2.1General Information on the River Nile...................................................................................3
2.2Map of the River System........................................................................................................4
3.RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NILE AND EGYPT..........................................................................4
3.1 Ancient Egypt and the Nile....................................................................................................4
3.2 Modern Egypt and the River Nile .........................................................................................5
4.RIVER SYSREM ISSUES..................................................................................................................5
4.1Identification of key issues.....................................................................................................5
4.2 Conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt....................................................................................6
4.3 Who is affected by the conflict? ...........................................................................................6
5. MANAGEMENT STRATEGY..........................................................................................................7
5.1 Solutions...............................................................................................................................7
5.2 Conclusion............................................................................................................................7
6. Research Action Plan..................................................................................................................8
7. REFRENCES................................................................................................................................10
APPENDICES..................................................................................................................................13
Appendix...................................................................................................................................16
Appendix...................................................................................................................................26

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1. INTRODUCTION
Egypt has been using the Nile as a main
water resource for centuries. The ancient
Egyptians farmed and lived along the Nile,
using the fertile soil to produce food for
their animals and themselves
(primaryhomeworkhelp). Egypt is 97%
desert and so the Nile’s water is very
important for its survival. Most of the
inhabitants live along the Nile, about 1000
people per square kilometre. Not only is the
Nile important for Egypt, but to the other
surrounding countries, such as Rwanda,
Ethiopia, Sudan, Burundi, Tanzania, Eritrea,
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya
(earthkam). To this day hundreds of people
Figure two: Nile at
depend on the Nile for survival and without Aswan (dkfindout).
its millions would die.
This report will be focusing on the River Nile. The main focus will be on the
ongoing conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt and how this affects everyone that depends on
the River Nile. This report will be investigating what is being done to help come up with a
solution to the problem and if any serious problems have been caused by this conflict. This
report will be investigating if there are other countries helping or organisations and groups
working to help those who are deeply affected by the problem.

2. RIVER SYSTEM OVERVIEW

2.1 General Information on the River Nile

The Nile is believed to be the longest river in the world, with 4,180 miles long (earthkam). The
volume of the Nile’s annual flow is 84 billion cubic metres (futuredirections). More than 10% of
Africa’s landmass is covered by the Nile’s catchment area (ugsbusiness). The river Nile runs
through eleven countries in Africa, these countries are called “The Nile Basin countries”. The
river Nile flows towards the north, from Sudan through to Egypt and drains into the
Mediterranean (thoughtco).

To the east of the river is the Eastern desert and to the west of the river Nile is the Sahara Desert.
The Nile river begins at two separate rivers, also known as tributaries. These are the two major
tributaries of the Nile, which is the White Nile and the Blue Nile (sites.google). Although the

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Blue Nile is a shorter river, it supplied the Nile with most of its water and arises in the
neighboring country Ethiopia (thoughtco). The Blue Nile’s source is in Ethiopia, Lake Tana. The
White Nile starts further in the south, at Lake Victoria, which is in the countries Tanzania,
Uganda and Kenya (livescience). However Lake Victoria is not the Nile’s true source, because
the lake has many contributing rivers coming in from surrounding
mountains. Lake Victoria’s longest feeder river is the Kagera River. The
Kagera river has tributaries of its own and to this day experts do not
agree on which is the most distant. The White and Blue Nile meet up
close to Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city (livescience). From this point,
the Nile flows to the North through the desert in Egypt. Then flows into
the Nile’s Delta, one of the world’s largest river deltas.

2.2 Map of the river system

Figure 2, the map to the left, shows an overhead map, where the river
Nile is to be seen. The map shows the two main tributaries; the Blue
Nile and the White Nile. The lakes linking to the Nile are also located on
the map. These are, Lake Tana, Lake Kyoga and Lake Albert. Lake
Victoria, the start of the White Nile, is also seen on the map. All the
countries that the Nile river surpasses are labelled (livescience).

Figure 3: Overhead
map of the Nile
(thoughtco)

3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NILE AND EGYPT

3.1 Ancient Egypt and the Nile

After the last Ice Age, thousands of years later, the climate was much wetter than it is to this
day. As time passed, it became drier and drier, as it turned from the wetlands into the Sahara
Desert. With this change, it became hard for human societies to use and live in, but with the Nile
flowing right in the middle, it changed everything for the ancient Egyptians (vassar.edu). The
Rive Nile provided them with many important resources needed for survival. The Nile provided
them with fertile soil along the Nile, where the Egyptians could grow crops. They grew beans,
wheat, barley and cotton to make clothes (passer.edu). The River Nile would flood for three to
six months a year and when the Nile starts to recede it would leave rich silt deposits behind.
During the flooding period, the Nile with big amounts of drinking water, which was drastically
needed due to the desert surrounding it (adventure.howstuffworks). The river Nile was also
used as a means of transport and communication with other countries. Trade would occur
between the Egyptians and surrounding countries (ancient-egypt-online).

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3.2 Modern Egypt and the River Nile

To this day most of the population live in areas along the River Nile, in areas called the Nile
Delta and Nile Valley. With several thousands of people living per square kilometer, places in
this area are immensely crowded (adventure.howstuffworks). The River Nile is still used by the
Egyptians for the same reasons that the ancient Egyptians used it for. Egypt still greatly depends
on the River Nile for their survival and to make a living. Egypt is now going through difficulties
with the surrounding countries especially Ethiopia.

4. RIVER SYSTEM ISSUES

4.1 Identification of issues

The Nile River basin passes through so
many countries in Africa, having a
change in availability of water or timing
under climate change, will have a huge
impact on management problems, will
lead to tension between the countries
(wwf). The region surrounding the
River Nile, only has one major reliable
source of renewable water supply, this
being the River Nile itself. The River
Nile is going through many different
issues, such as population increase in
countries that deeply depend on the
Nile for food and water supply. An
estimated 200 million people depend
immediately on the river Nile and an
estimated doubled increase is expected
Figure 4: Population density in the next 25 years (futuredirections).
of Egypt along the Nile As figure 3 shows, the population along the Nile, is heavily populated. An
(reddit.com).
increase will have great impact on the Nile river.
Global warming is a big issue concerning the Nile. Climate warming models
show the decrease of the future river flow by 78%. This 78% decrease will cause millions of
issues and possibly deaths of hundreds of people. Due to global warming the sea level is slowly
rising, the increase will farther decrease the access to freshwater especially in the delta region
(wwf). This is because the sea water will mix with the freshwater and there will no longer be any
freshwater left.
The issue that the report will focus on, is the conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia.

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4.2 Conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt

A treaty created in 1929, which granted Egypt with a say over any projected that had anything to
do with the Nile by upstream countries (bbc.com), changed in 1959. The 1959 treaty increased the
Nile’s water allocation to 18.5 billion for Sudan, 10 billion for evaporation and seepage, and 55.5
billion for Egypt. These treaties didn’t allow any water control for other water basin countries.
Then on May 10, 2010, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya, signed ‘The
Cooperative Framework Agreement’. This new agreement wasn’t signed by Egypt and Sudan,
because their rights of the Nile’s water would not be protected, instead it would give all countries
fair and equal water allocations, while additionally a concept called ‘water security’ (brookings).
Since 1929, Egypt has prevented Ethiopia from building a dam, so when the (CFA) Cooperative
Framework Agreement, was created Ethiopia decided to made plans to build a dam.

The dam was called ‘The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’. The dam
is a hydroelectric plant, located 40km east of Sudan, in the Benishangul
region of Ethiopia (watertechnology). Ethiopia wants to develop its
country and use the dam to create electricity for itself and neighboring
countries. Ethiopia claims that the dam will bring electricity to millions
and build industry (circleofblue). Once completed the dam will be the
biggest in Africa and producing about 6,000 megawatts of energy (salini-
impregilo). Ethiopia is stuck on growing and ‘rebirthing’ their country
that they don’t recognize that Egypt has historical rights over the Nile.
This construction has caused tensions between Ethiopia, Egypt and
Sudan.

4.3 Who is affected by this conflict?

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are all affected by the build of the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The construction of the dam will have a
negative impact on Egypt, mainly because Egypt is the country furthest
downstream of the Nile and because it greatly depends on the Nile for
Figure 5: Ethiopia’s dam is
its survival. Egypt’s concerns are that Ethiopia will divert the flow of the Nile located near Sudan’s border
and use the water for irrigation. It has been calculated that the dam can cut (yale.edu)
off more than a year’s supply of water flow of the Blue Nile, which will impact
downstream countries severely. If Egypt has dry season during this period, this could have a
major impact on the country and the inhabitants (yale.edu). Although the government of
Ethiopia has assured that the dam’s only use is for hydroelectricity, Egypt still has its concerns.
During the build of the dam, approximately 20,000 people had to be removed from the
surrounding areas. This resettlement, caused a lot of disruption in the 20,000 people’s lives.
These people now have to get used to living in a new place and adapting to their new lifestyle
(watertechnology).
Sudan suffers from water scarcity and its said to decrease by 60% by 2025. The construction of
the dam only worsens this fact. It will strip Sudan of flood waters, which provide water stocks
inside Sudan, which can be used during drought periods (sudantribune). After completion, it
will reduce around 40km of flooding in Sudan (watertechnology). The reduction of the Nile’s
flooding will have a negative impact on natural productivity of agricultural areas and flood plain

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agriculture. This will lead to a drop-in livelihood for flood-dependent communities, which live
along the river bank (sudantribune). The dam affects Sudan in environmental ways, that could
be the cause of Sudan’s ruin. The construction also has a good impact on Sudan in two ways. It
will provide Sudan with electricity and irrigation (reuters.com).
Ethiopia is affected in a good way. The build of the dam benefits the people of Ethiopia, as it
will provide them with electricity.

5. MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
5.1 Solutions

There are no solutions that have been established to solve the issues between Ethiopia and
Egypt. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is about 60% completed as of 2017, there is little
that can be done at this point to stop the construction (CNN). Egypt has so far not taken any
serious action to stop the construction, such as any military action. Negotiations have been
taking place for months over the dam with Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia. These discussions have
been on how the dam will be used and been coming up with solutions for all the problems that
may occur. In order to protect its share of the river, Egypt is going through diplomatic means of
negotiation. The conversations and negotiations over the dam have been delayed and full of
tension (circleofblue).
One option or solution is that Egypt should understand or trust that Ethiopia’s only use for the
dam is to generate electricity and not to divert the river’s water or control its flow. Even though
with the dam, Ethiopia could cause severe impacts on the downstream countries, that is not
the reason why it was built.

5.2 Conclusion

The main conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia over the River Nile, is the Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam, that Ethiopia has been building for the past few years. There is no solution to
the conflict at the moment, but there has to be one agreed on as soon as possible. Egypt has
depended on the Nile’s water since the beginning of the Egyptian civilisation and if there is a
change is this, it could lead to Egyptians having to flee their country. Then this could turn into a
global issue, because there are millions that live and depend on the Nile. If Ethiopia’s intentions
are only to generate electricity, then the build of the dam should have no negative impacts on
the downstream countries.

In conclusion Ethiopia and Egypt have to come up with a fair agreement and settle the conflict
between the two countries that is effecting the countries around them as well.

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Marlene Lobel Micheal Soeldner, I&S Class E-9A

6. RESEARCH ACTION PLAN

The main What is the main conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia over the River Nile and
research how is it being solved?
question
Justification of I want to explore and research more about this topic because the conflict
relevance between these two countries, doesn’t only affect them, but also everyone
around them, the people in the countries and has global impacts.
Sub questions Where is the conflict taking place?
How long has this been a problem?
What are some facts and figures about the river?
What are the main effects of this problem?
Who is affected by this conflict?
What can we do to solve this problem?
How is the conflict being resolved?
What are other countries and people doing about this conflict?
Methods to be I will be using a capture sheet to store web links and pieces of information that
used in the I find will be useful for my report. My capture sheet will contain all my sub-
investigation questions and below each question I will insert the different links and
information. I will not use to many websites for each sub-question, depending
on the question and how easy or difficult it is to find answers, the number of
websites will vary with each sub-question.
Identify the These are just some web links that I found at the start:
relevant https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/death_of_the_nile
sources/eviden https://e360.yale.edu/features/on_the_river_nile_a_move_to_avert_a_conflict_
ce that you will over_water
use. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43170408
https://www.water-technology.net/projects/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-
africa/
http://wwf.panda.org/our_work/water/rivers/nile/
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-quest-for-the-nile-43779

*see the rest in the references section of the report

What steps will
you follow to
address/ Task Completion date checklist
answer the Research Action Plan Wednesday 21st Nov DONE
research Finding information for Saturday 24th Nov DONE
question? each sub question
Introduction Wednesday 28th Nov DONE
River system overview Saturday 1st Dec DONE
Relationship between Monday 3rd Dec DONE
the Nile and Egypt
River system issues Wednesday 5th Dec DONE
Management strategy Friday 7th Dec DONE
conclusion Sunday 9th Dec DONE

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Work cited Sunday 9th Dec DONE

Final touches Monday 10th Dec DONE

Evaluation My research process was quite simple, I had a capture sheet, where each sub-
question was listed, then I would add web links that would help answer the
question. After gathering enough sources, I would read through the links for
the first sub-question and with the information gathered, I would write a
paragraph explaining and answering the question. The capture sheet helped
me a lot, it helped me stay organized and keep track of which links belong to
which sub-question. This way I wouldn’t have to spend time going through all
the sources just to find out that they all don’t answer the question. Using the
capture sheet, made it easier for me to write my report and do my research,
because I could see which sub-question had sources and which ones didn’t, so
I would know what to research. At first, I had a bit of trouble starting my report,
because I didn’t know how and where to begin. But once I started with my
introduction, I got into the hang of it and I was answering the sub-questions
one by one, although I did combine a few questions, because I had a few
similar ones. There were a lot of sources and information on the topic ‘The
River Nile’, but some parts were harder to find information about. For these
questions, I either rephrased the question or just put in key words. I think the
hardest section to find information about was the management strategy part, I
had to write the question in many ways, until finally finding a bit of information.
I am very happy with the way that I have answered my questions, although I
feel that there are some areas where I could improve and could have done
better. I had some complications getting the answers for all my questions,
because it is quite tricky to find the answer to your exact question, but I
answered all my questions to a point where it covers all questions. The action
plan did help in the process of finishing my report, the main thing that helped
was the ‘task, completion date and checklist’ table and the sub-questions.
These table helped because it was a constant reminder oh my due date and
warned me if I was falling behind on a task. The sub-questions helped,
because without that section I would have missed out on a lot of information
and my report would not be so detailed. I had to change my ‘task, completion
date and checklist’ table once or twice to adjust the dates, because I needed
more time for some of the sections, this is because there was either a lot of
information or it was difficult to research about. Next time I think that I would
start my report earlier, because there were a few times where I thought that I
would not be able to complete the report in time. Next time I will also stick to
the original completion task table, to ensure that I have enough time for all the
sections and don’t get worried close to the due date. I would not change the
method in which I researched my information, because the capture sheet was
the main thing that helped me stay organized and complete my task. Overall, I
am very pleased with my report and the way everything was answered and put
together in the report.

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REFERENCES
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Nov. 2018.

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"Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan Sign Deal to End Nile Dispute." BBC News, 23 Mar. 2015,

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Fred Pearce. "Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam Is Being Built near Its Border with Sudan." Yale.edu,

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"Nile." Water Technology, www.water-technology.net/projects/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

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