The Blue Nile river paradox

Seble Demeke, UN

Ethiopia the source of the Blue Nile river is facing continuous drought and desertification on an unacceptable scale

I am writing this article mainly to find an answer to a puzzling question that has been going on in the minds of many Ethiopians including myself for a long time. The northern part of the country where the Blue Nile River is situated is facing droughts and desertification on an alarming scale. This year again we are hearing that millions are going to be affected by the drought. The question is therefore, what is Ethiopia getting from the existence of the Blue Nile River in its territory? What do the people inhabiting in the northern part get as a socio-economic benefit if they have to face drought and starvation every couple of years? What are the possibilities for irrigation for agricultural purposes and why is it not done? I am not an archaeologist, an engineer nor an expert in water, but I know and the rest of the world too, that Ethiopia has the longest river in the world, the Blue Nile, that is the main source of livelihood for millions of people living around it except for the owners, the people of Ethiopia. The Blue Nile River starts from the northern part of Ethiopia, rises at an altitude of 1,830 m (6,000 ft) in the region of Lake Tana and flows south and then west in the country and flows to Sudan before merging, at Khartoum, with the White Nile to form the Nile River. It is also a known fact that the Blue Nile contributes about two-thirds of the water of the Nile proper.

I would like to give my readers a scenario of how the region of the Blue Nile Gorge looks like. There are a number of small islands around Lake Tana the source of the Blue Nile. The most important towns are Bahir Dar in the south and Gorgora in the north, once the capital of the 16^th-17-century Abyssinian kings. (Abyssinia is the old name for Ethiopia) The city of Bahir Dar built around Lake Tana is the most beautiful city I have come across. I will not be exaggerating if I say that it could be compared to the city of Nice in France but still with its natural surroundings, its beautiful palm trees, less the big buildings, highways and crowds. For those who have never seen nor heard of the Blue Nile, it is probably one of the most beautiful natural sites in the world. The water is very clear and intensely blue. It changes its colour to muddy water when it reaches Sudan because it is taking all the soil along with it. During the day, it is so wonderful to see the Blue Nile waterfall and the mist around it. When the sun sets in the evening the reflection on Lake Tana, where the Blue Nile flows from a few thousand meters from the Falls, is just a testimony of nature’s beauty and the gracious gift of God. No words can explain the mixture of colour on the Lake. I remember one evening, I was staying at the Ghion Hotel built on the edge of the lake and sat on the shores of Lake Tana and watched the full sun set for hours and hours until the horizon completely disappeared. One needs to see this to understand what I am talking about.

The Blue Nile is the pride of Ethiopia and is also typical of the country’s limitless potential wealth from natural resources that have yet to be fully utilized. The paradox of the situation is that “although the Blue Nile waters originate in Ethiopia and account for around 85 percent of the Nile’s total water supply, they have thus far been virtually unutilised by Ethiopia”. (ETHIOSCOPE/No.1 1998) I would like to quote you a proverb in Amharic, which is the official language of Ethiopia, (there are some 75 dialects in the country) which says that “Ye abbaien Inate Wuha Temat”. The closest translation into English would be “the mother of Abbai (the Blue Nile River) is dying of thirst”. This proverb sounds very simple but it has a very deep meaning for Ethiopians who are living continuously under the shadow of drought and famine. (this time 15 million people are affected which is 1/5 of the population)

Several reasons are given for this situation. If you remember in one of my previous article on the UN Special No. 609, under the title of “The Suffering and Agony of Millions in a World of Plenty”, I have made it a point that there is a reason behind every famine that is happening today in the African continent. In the case of Ethiopia, some experts say it is mainly due to international laws concerning the usage of water, which prohibits Ethiopia from using the water that originates from its own territory, compounded by lack of a sound planning system of irrigation for agricultural purposes and an appropriate design of hydroelectric power as a source of energy. On the other hand, the river is dammed for irrigation and hydroelectricity production in other Nile users countries. The people of Ethiopia are now repeatedly asking their natural rights for the usage of water from the Blue Nile River. This is past due and I hope sooner than later they will get a positive response from whoever is responsible for this decision.

During my research for this article, I read several documents produced by Ethiopians and foreigners on the subject of the Nile River and the need for equitable use of its waters. There is a lot of information on the subject. Some are political, others are historical and yet others have been passed by time. The most recent and promising document I came across is the one on “Nile Basin Initiative” (NBI), which is a strategic action program prepared by the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat in cooperation with the World Bank, in May 2001. This initiative tries to safeguard the different interests and gives hope for the peaceful coexistence of the peoples of the Nile Valley.

The scenario of Lake Tana

The NBI countries are users and contributors to the Nile. These include Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The Nile River serves about 300 million people of the region, which is half of the population of the African Continent. The objective of the NBI Program and Project is to “create a coordination mechanism and an ‘enabling environment’ to realize their shared vision through action on the ground… The program is intended to be a broad-based basin-wide program of collaborative action, exchange of experience, and capacity building to ensure a strong foundation for regional cooperation.” The programme stresses that, despite the Basin’s natural endowments, its people face considerable challenges. The region is characterised by poverty, instability, rapid population growth, and environmental degradation. The Initiative includes a set of seven major programmes with several sub-programmes as a means of implementing its objectives. These include: “Nile Trans-boundary Environmental Action; Nile Basin Regional Power Trade; Efficient Water Use for Agriculture Production; Water Resources Planning and Management; Confidence-Building and Stake- holder Involvement (Communication); Applied Training and Socio-Economic Development and Benefit-Sharing”.

This project has raised a lot of hope among the people and countries of the users of the Nile River, in particular Ethiopia, due to the fact of desertification, drought and soil erosion problems, which the country is facing on a continuous basis. There is a Minister of Water Resources Development in Ethiopia as in other countries that are major users of the Nile, responsible for the implementation of the different projects within the framework of the NBI. Provided there is a good will on all parts concerned, sufficient resources and willingness from the international community, the current situation could be reversed to ensure that everyone concerned will be in a position to benefit from the Nile River for the socio-economic development of the region as a whole and to individual countries according to their needs. The reality is that water can be controlled for several reasons, among others, not to destroy land by flood or erosion; to increase the growth of vegetation and provide more nourishment for plant and wild life. It can be controlled to generate electric power, which helps make life easier to manage, and above all, it can be controlled to raise crops in abundance to feed people better and to protect them against possible drought and famine.

Let’s all hope that this new Nile Basin Initiative brings about sustainable development for the people concerned that are currently affected by severe drought and famine; and that it is part and parcel of the national plans to which the World Bank provides the necessary funds.