The Blue Nile Issue: A History of Hydropolitics, 1884-1974
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Date
2004-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The hydropolitics of the Blue Nile had an impact on developments affecting modern
Ethiopia. The issue has played a crucial role in the struggle between Ethiopia and the powers
over the control of the lower basin, and was transformed in the nineteenth century. The
century witnessed Egypt’s vigorous attempt to secure the unimpeded flow of the Blue Nile
River. This development became more acute and gained a new momentum when European
powers developed an interest in the region and realized that both the economic survival of
Egypt and the prosperity of the Sudan were dependent on the good will of Ethiopia that had
direct jurisdiction over the source of the Blue Nile.
The main objective of the thesis is to show the dynamics of the hydropoltics of the
Blue Nile within the broad context of Ethiopian history. In the last quarter of the nineteenth
century, the Blue Nile was one of the main factors that led the British to violate the Adwa or
Hewett Treaty of 1884 and to promote the Italian colonial interest in Ethiopia up to 1896. By
1902, the British had ensured the unobstructed and continuous flow of the Blue Nile River. In
the first half of the twentieth century, the British carried on protracted diplomatic negotiations
with the Ethiopian government to secure a perennial water supply from the Blue Nile by
constructing a dam at the outlet of Lake Tãnã and turning the lake into a water reservoir. Even
though the British diplomatic efforts were a fiasco, they had an impact on the history of
Ethiopia and the major events of the period.
In the 1950s, Egypt’s decision to build the Aswan High Dam relegated all previous
plans of developing the entire Nile Basin to insgnificance. The decision not only put the Lake
Tãnã Dam project to the side line but also brought the hydropolitics of the Nile into its vortex.
Subsquently, Ethiopia called for the equitable and fair utilization of the waters of the Nile as
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well as planned to develop the Blue Nile Basin. This was the main factor behind Egypt’s
hostile policy towards Ethiopia until the 1960s.
This study argues that lack of far-sightedness particularly on the part of the powers
intensified the Nile issue. The river could not be disconnected from national sentiment and
treated as a common and shared natural resource among the riparian states. This is a major
impediment to equitable and fair utilization of the waters of the Nile.
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Keywords
Hydropolitics