Egypt and the Hydro-Politics of the Blue Nile River

As early as the 4th century B.C., Herodotus observed that Egypt was a gift of the N i l e. That observation is no less true today than in the distant past, because not only the prosperity of Egypt, but also its very existence depends on the annual flood of the Nile. Of its two sources, the Blue Nile flows from Lake Tana in Ethiopia, while the White Nile flows from Lake Victoria in Uganda. Some 86 p e rcent of the water that Egypt consumes annually originates from the Blue Nile R i ve r, while the remainder comes from the White Nile. Since concern with the f ree flow of the Nile has always been a national security issue for Egypt, as far as the Blue Nile goes it has been held that Egypt must be in a position either to dominate Ethiopia, or to neutralize whatever unfriendly regime might emerg e t h e re. As the late President Sadat stated: “ Any action that would endanger the waters of the Blue Nile will be faced with a firm reaction on the part of Egypt, even if that action should lead to wa r. ”1 In this respect, an acute observer of the Egyptian scene recently wrote: