Water becomes political weapon

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Periodical article

Title:	Water becomes political weapon
Author:	Anonymous
Year:	1979
Periodical:	South African Journal of African Affairs
Volume:	9
Issue:	2
Page:	63
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ethiopia
Subjects:	irrigation foreign policy
Abstract:	Ethiopia's Head of State, Mengistu, had made it clear to his Russian benefactors as far back as 1976 that Marxism in his part of the world could only succeed if the country was freed of the constant threat of famine. He requested the Russians to harness the Blue Nile by means of several dams, the most important one to regulate the flow of the Abbai, Beles and Binder rivers which feed the Blue Nile as well as the Atbara and Takeze rivers that flow into the Nile at Atbara. The Russian apparently agreed. The Blue Nile contributes almost 59 percent of the Nile's total volume while the White Nile and the Atbara and Sobat rivers supply the balance. In their plans to 'make the desert blossom' the Saudis have been studying the transport of Nile water form Atbara to Port Sudan from where it should be pumped to a point near Riyad. Ethiopia's tampering with the flow of the Blue Nile would therefore have immediate repercussions on Sudan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Mengistu has used these plans as a political weapon against the two pro-western Nile states. Map.