Egyptian Sudan

Monsieur Ront, a Frenchman who was a member of the board of directors of the Egyptian Railways, gave a speech at the Egyptian Higher Institute on the 12th of January, 1908, before the dissolution of the council. He said: The construction of a dam at Aswan on the Nile exposes Egypt to grave dangers, even to death, and to its annihilation. If a dam is built at the mouth of Lake Victoria Nyanza, at the top of the rapids, this lake, which holds 10 billion cubic meters, will raise the water level by at least 20 centimeters per year. It will take ten years for the water to reach the top of this dam. In this way, Egypt will be deprived of a small amount of flood water, which is ten billion cubic meters, while the flood water in the Nile is 100 billion cubic meters.

But the damage will be more apparent during the low water season. Egypt will be deprived of 100 cubic meters per second. This water is measured at Khartoum, but much of it is lost through evaporation and seepage before it reaches Cairo. If 100 cubic meters of water per second reach Khartoum, only 10 cubic meters per second will reach Cairo. If the dam is built, only 10 cubic meters per second will reach Cairo, and this will be to Egypt's detriment.

On October 1st, Sir Scott Moncrieff, who was the Undersecretary of State for Public Works in Egypt, submitted a report to the British Consul-General. In it, he stated: If a civilized country owned the Nile, it would undoubtedly control the outlets of Lake Victoria Nyanza to regulate the flow of water from the lake, just as Manchester regulates its own. This action in itself is simple. If it is carried out, the supply of the Nile from those outlets will be in the hands of the ruling country there. And if unfortunate Egypt is destined to be in...