The Jebel Auliya Dam: A Colonial-Era Legacy of Egyptian Control on the White Nile in South Sudan
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Hon. Atem Garang Deng Dekuek
By Atem Garang D. Dekuek, Juba, South Sudan
Thursday, 08 August 2024 (PW) — The Jebel Auliya Dam, built on the White Nile River just upstream of its confluence with the Blue Nile, 47 km south of Khartoum, is an evil reminiscent of the colonial era in the Sudan. It was constructed and commissioned in 1937, and exclusively owned, and managed by Egypt, until 1972 when the purpose for its construction was superseded by the completion of building of the High Dam in Egypt; subsequently, the ownership was finally transferred to Sudan in 1977.
The purpose for the construction of the dam, was to secure astable water reservoir that should store sustainable large volumes of water from the White Nile during the rainy season, when the Blue Nile is at its peak of flooding. This stored quantity, was to suffice agricultural needs of water in Egypt; which was solely used to provide timely supply for summer cropping; which was released annually during the dry season, from January to June, ‘to supplement the dropping level of water when the Nile flowed in greatly reduced quantities after the flood-waters from the Blue Nile has subsided.’ The Blue Nile, is the main source of about 85% of the Nile waters that traverse through Sudan to Egypt.
The dam, as mentioned above, was built in 1937, when both South Sudan and the Sudan were one colony under the Angelo-Egyptian Condominium Rule. During that dark era, the land ofSouth Sudan with its peoples, and resources were administered and managed as ‘legitimate’ seizure properties of the occupying colonisers; based on this ‘colonial ownership’, the Great Britain, Egypt, and later on, their inheriting clones, the Arabised Sudaneseall along disregarded disadvantageous consequences on the people of South Sudan when designing developmental projects and schemes for the interest and absolute benefits of these inhuman colonisers; i.e. Jebel Auliya dam, Jonglei Canal project, the obsolete Nile waters agreements, slave trade etc. are clear demonstration of this point.
The initial envisaged capacity, and storage of the reservoir behind Jebel Auliya dam, was 3.5 cubic km of water, consequently, the lands along the banks, and adjacent areas of the White Nile River southwards, are permanently flooded and submerged as parts and parcels of the reservoir. Following the independence of South Sudan, Jebel Auliya reservoir is a transborder’s man-made lake, a source of flooding, which extends across the international bordersof South Sudan and Sudan. It covers areas inside South Sudan;Renk, Manyo, and Malut counties of the Upper Nile state. The dam for the last 87 years has remained a nightmare for the people of South Sudan; it has negative impacts on the people, agriculture, livestock, and the environment.
The disadvantages imposed by the dam on our country, are several, but before discussing them, one wonders what is the Sudan benefiting from the dam? It was specifically designed to serve the interest of Egypt; it does not generate electricity, nor use for irrigation; maybe only to protect Khartoum from floods during rainy seasons. But hydrologically, does protection of Khartoum require that huge volume of water to be stored behind the dam?This idle dam, has imposed the following disadvantages on South Sudan:
1. When the filling of the reservoir was completed, over eighty years ago, it submerged all the river banks inside South Sudan border, in Renk, Manyo and Malut counties in Upper Nile state; creating therefore, permanent swamps that had become mosquito breeding and bilharzia prone ground and many other water-borne diseases;
2. During the rainy seasons, areas that were not flood prone before 1937, are since then, annually inundated compelling the population to settle far away from the river. The river from a blessing resource has been turned into a constant nightmare to the people of these areas!
3. The submerged large fertile areas adjacent to the river banks,the decedents of the people who owned them in 1937, have been deprived from utilizing suitable lands for gardening of fruit trees and vegetables farming;
4. Deforestation of the areas that are subjected to annual flooding, the lands under permanent water of the reservoir, and emergence of swamp vegetations in these areas is an environmental problem;
5. The reservoir has negatively affected easy physical and social communication between population residing along the river banks, crossing of the swampy areas have created social isolation among the residents of the eastern and western banks within the above-mentioned counties.
The way forward for mitigating disadvantages imposed on South Sudan by water reservoir of Jebel Auliya dam, must be negotiated with the government of Sudan when stability returns to thatcountry. However, the possible scenarios that South Sudan must aspire to arrive to are:
1. In case, the only benefit the Sudan is getting from the dam is protection of Khartoum from floods, then it does not need this huge volume of water to be kept behind the dam. The reservoir must be emptied or reduced from 3.5 to 1.5 cubic km, which will translate to the reservoir being exclusively inside the Sudan, and freeing our land; and the Sudanese could utilize their reservoir the way that benefits them;
2. If Sudan, has intention to retain the reservoir at the present capacity 3.5 cubic km, then, South Sudan would be entitled and obliged to demand a continuous reparation or rent of its lands under reservoir water. The compensation could be in any form, such as: free usage of Sudanese ports and railways, oil pipeline etc… This could be arrived at through UN and other international bodies that have technical and experience in this complicated issue;
3. South Sudan has retrogressive rights to claim to be compensated by both Egyptian and Sudanese governmentsfor the damage done to the land and the people of the areas mentioned above, since 1937.
4.
All the colonial projects that might have adversely affected South Sudan, must be scrutinized, and seek the appropriate methods of mitigation. A project such as Jonglei Canal, its fate has already been sealed, as one scholar has observed that: “……the attitude of the international community to these wetlands has changed dramatically. It will be extremely difficult to restart the construction of the Jonglei Canal for technical and political reasons; it will almost certainly be impossible to do so because no international or bilateral agency will finance the perceived impairment of one of Africa’s major wetlands” J. A, Allan, 1994.
Please see:
1. “The Nile: Sharing a Scarce Resource” edited by P. P, Howell, and J. A, Allan 1994;
2. “The Waters of the Nile” R. O, Collins, 1990
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