The Sudan issueNile waters negotiationsThe first round of negotiations between Egypt and Sudan took place between September and December 1954, even as Sudan was preparing for its independence, scheduled for 1956. The positions of the two sides can be summarised as follows:The Egyptian positionExisting needs should take priority.

These were described as being 51 BCM for Egypt and four BCM for Sudan, out of an average flow of 80 BCM as measured at Aswan. Any remainder from development projects should be divided as a percentage of each country's population after subtracting 10 BCM for evaporation losses. The respective population and growth rates led to an Egyptian formula for 22/30 of the remainder, or 11 BCM for Egypt, and 8/30, or four BCM for Sudan. There should be one large storage facility, a high dam at Aswan. Total allocations would therefore be 62 BCM for Egypt and 8 BCM for Sudan.The Sudanese positionSudan insisted on using the standard value of 84 BCM for average Nile discharge, and insisted that Egypt's acquired rights were for 48 BCM, not 51 BCM that Egypt claimed. Sudan also suggested that their population was actually 50% larger than Egypt had estimated, and that resulting population-based allocations should be adjusted accordingly, giving Sudan at least one third of any additional water. Storage facilities should be smaller and upstream, as envisioned in the Century Storage Scheme. Consequently, if Egypt insisted on one large project, with comparatively high evaporation losses, these losses should be deducted from Egypt's share. Total allocations, therefore, should be approximately 59 BCM (69 BCM less evaporation) for Egypt and 15 BCM for Sudan.Negotiations were broken off inconclusively, then briefly, and equally inconclusively, resumed in April 1955. Relations then threatened to degrade into military confrontation in 1958 when Egypt sent an unsuccessful expedition into territory in dispute between the two countries. In the summer of 1959, Sudan unilaterally raised the Sennar dam, effectively repudiating the 1929 agreement.Sudan attained independence on January 1, 1956, but it was with the military regime, which gained power in 1958 that Egypt adopted a more conciliatory tone in the negotiations which resumed in early 1959. Progress was speeded in part by the fact that any funding, which would be forthcoming for the High Dam, would depend on a riparian agreement. On November 8, 1959, the Agreement for the Full Utilisation of the Nile Waters (Nile Waters Treaty) was signed.samyshahed@hotmail.com