{"id":29685,"date":"2020-07-19T09:42:45","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T14:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=29685"},"modified":"2020-07-19T09:42:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T14:42:45","slug":"water-water-water-egypt-ctd-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2020\/07\/19\/water-water-water-egypt-ctd-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Water, Water, Water: Egypt, Ctd"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Long time readers may remember the <a href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2016\/08\/13\/water-water-water-egypt-ctd-8\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tensions over water<\/a> between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia that I talked about four years ago. It popped back up on my radar just now as <em><strong>AL Monitor<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.al-monitor.com\/pulse\/originals\/2020\/07\/ethiopia-starts-filling-gerd-dam-nile-river-egypt-sudan.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reports<\/a> they may become dramatically worse:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.lonelyplanet.com\/maps\/africa\/egypt\/map_of_egypt.jpg?w=466\" width=\"261\" height=\"196\" \/>Ethiopia reportedly started filling its controversial mega dam on the Nile River today though no agreement has been reached with Egypt and Sudan. The unilateral action is sure to exacerbate tensions between Ethiopia and the two countries, as both Egypt and Sudan have made their staunch opposition to the move clear. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The latest round of negotiations between the three countries ended without an agreement yesterday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body_copy text-black\">\u201cAlthough there were progresses\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/seleshi_b_a\/status\/1282894445323735040\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no breakthrough deal<\/a>\u00a0is made,\u201d Bekele tweeted yesterday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><strong>Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam<\/strong><\/em><\/a> on the Blue Nile River could easily become a chokehold on Egypt, since, as one might guess, the Blue Nile is a major contributor to Egypt&#8217;s only major source of fresh water, the Nile:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BlueNileRiver.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29690\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BlueNileRiver.jpg?resize=220%2C186&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BlueNileRiver.jpg?w=220&amp;ssl=1 220w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BlueNileRiver.jpg?resize=177%2C150&amp;ssl=1 177w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BlueNileRiver.jpg?resize=150%2C127&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The confluence with the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/White_Nile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">White Nile<\/a> at Khartoum marks the beginning of the Nile.<\/p>\n<p>Sudan reports immediate effects, although I have no idea if these numbers are trustworthy or politically motivated:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"body_copy text-black\">There were immediate effects of the reported filling on the Sudanese section of the Blue Nile, according to Sudan&#8217;s Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources. The ministry recorded that water levels in the river went down by 90 million cubic meters (more than 3 billion cubic feet) at a station today, according to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/suna-sd.net\/en\/single?id=685225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Ethiopia is trying to warn off Egypt from armed conflict:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"body_copy text-black\">An Ethiopian military leader said, \u201dEgyptians and the rest of the world know too well\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.al-monitor.com\/pulse\/originals\/2020\/06\/ethiopia-threatens-egypt-military-dam.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how we conduct war<\/a>\u201d before [a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.al-monitor.com\/pulse\/originals\/2020\/06\/ethiopia-sudan-egypt-discuss-nile-river-dam-unsc.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UN Security Council meeting on the issue<\/a>].<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/egypt-population.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-29688 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/egypt-population.jpg?resize=320%2C149&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/egypt-population.jpg?w=730&amp;ssl=1 730w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/egypt-population.jpg?resize=300%2C140&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/egypt-population.jpg?resize=250%2C116&amp;ssl=1 250w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/egypt-population.jpg?resize=150%2C70&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a>Here&#8217;s the problem: Egypt&#8217;s the proverbial cornered rat. They have no alternative natural fresh water sources of which I am aware, they have a <a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/egypt\/population\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">large and growing<\/a> population, and their population density does not herald good omens for social harmony if water supplies become more limited:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a title=\"Egypt\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Egypt\">Egypt<\/a>\u00a0is the most populous country in the entire\u00a0<a title=\"Middle East\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Middle_East\">Middle East<\/a>\u00a0and the second-most populous on the\u00a0<a title=\"Africa\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Africa\">African<\/a>\u00a0continent (after\u00a0<a title=\"Nigeria\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nigeria\">Nigeria<\/a>). About 95%\u00a0of the country&#8217;s 100 million people (February 2020)\u00a0live along the banks of the\u00a0<a title=\"Nile\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nile\">Nile<\/a>\u00a0and in the Nile Delta, which fans out north of Cairo; and along the\u00a0<a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Suez_Canal\">Suez Canal<\/a>. These regions are among the world&#8217;s most densely populated, containing an average of over 1,540 per km\u00b2, as compared to 96 persons per km\u00b2 for the country as a whole.\u00a0<em>[<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Demographics_of_Egypt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Wikipedia<\/strong><\/a>]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While a military tactical strike on the dam seems unlikely, it can&#8217;t be ruled out. Keep an eye out for violence brought on by the need for water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long time readers may remember the tensions over water between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia that I talked about four years ago. It popped back up on my radar just now as AL Monitor reports they may become dramatically worse: Ethiopia reportedly started filling its controversial mega dam on the Nile \u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2020\/07\/19\/water-water-water-egypt-ctd-9\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29685"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29691,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29685\/revisions\/29691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}