Sudan Plans to Benefit from its Full Share of Nile Water

Sudan's Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasser Abbas takes part in a trilateral meeting to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in Khartoum, Sudan on Dec. 21, 2019. (AFP)
Sudan's Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasser Abbas takes part in a trilateral meeting to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in Khartoum, Sudan on Dec. 21, 2019. (AFP)
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Sudan Plans to Benefit from its Full Share of Nile Water

Sudan's Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasser Abbas takes part in a trilateral meeting to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in Khartoum, Sudan on Dec. 21, 2019. (AFP)
Sudan's Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasser Abbas takes part in a trilateral meeting to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in Khartoum, Sudan on Dec. 21, 2019. (AFP)

Sudan's Water Minister Yasser Abbas said on Friday that his country was barely using 6 billion cubic meters of water from its 18.5 billion share from the Nile River, stressing the need to revise the laws regulating water projects in a way to allow Khartoum benefit from its full share.

“Sudan is not using more than 6 billion cubic meters of water from its 18.5 billion share, listed in the 1959 agreement,” he said.

The agreement with Britain increased Egypt’s share of the Nile water to 55.5 billion, while Sudan received 18.5 billion.

The deal has governed the use of Cairo’s water to date and it allowed Egypt the right to veto any construction projects that would impede the flow of water into the Nile.

During the first meeting of the advisory council tasked with placing the ministry’s policies and programs during the transitional phase in Sudan, Abbas said that the isolated system of the water harvesting program in Sudan was used for political and not service purposes, adding that this program was not implemented in the best ways.

He said that the principle challenges that the ministry was currently facing are to build water harvest facilities and to manage them in a sustainable manner.

“We rely on the advisory council to discuss and draw new policies and programs to allow the implementation of such projects,” he said.

The minister mentioned the lack of water engineers working at the ministry. “We are working to restructure the ministry during the upcoming phase to attract young engineers,” he said.

Ethiopia’s construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile began in 2012, but since then Egypt has sounded the alarm that the project would severely reduce its water supplies.

In November, the foreign ministers and water resources ministers of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia met in Washington to discuss issues related to the dam and they agreed to hold four technical meetings to follow up and assess the progress.

The first meeting was held in Ethiopia in November and the second meeting was held in Cairo in December.



Hegseth Keeps 2 Aircraft Carriers in Middle East for Another Week for Battle with Yemen’s Houthis

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
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Hegseth Keeps 2 Aircraft Carriers in Middle East for Another Week for Battle with Yemen’s Houthis

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to remain in the Middle East for a second time, keeping it there another week so the US can maintain two carrier strike groups in the region to battle Yemen-based Houthi militias, according to a US official.

In late March, Hegseth extended the deployment of the Truman and the warships in its group for a month as part of a campaign to increase strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis. The official said Hegseth signed the latest order Thursday and it is expected the Truman and its strike group warships will head home to Norfolk, Virginia, after the week is up.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of US Central Command, requested that the Truman be extended again, according to officials. The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its strike group arrived in the region a few weeks ago and are operating in the Gulf of Aden. The Truman, along with two destroyers and a cruiser in its strike group, is in the Red Sea.

The officials spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The US has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign. He promised to use "overwhelming lethal force" until the Houthis stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a vital trade corridor.

According to Central Command, the US has been waging an "intense and sustained campaign" against the Houthis. In a statement over the weekend, the command said the US has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since Operation Rough Rider began. It hasn't provided details on the targets or how the data is compiled.

It has been rare in recent years for the US to have two aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time. Navy leaders have generally been opposed to the idea because it disrupts ship maintenance schedules and delays time at home for sailors strained by the unusually high combat tempo.

If there are no additional extensions and the Truman and its warships leave the region next week, those sailors could be back home by next month.

Last year, the Biden administration ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to remain in the Red Sea for an extended time as US warships waged the most intense running sea battle since World War II. Prior to that, it had been years since the US had committed that much warship power to the Middle East.

The Houthis had been waging persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

From November 2023 until this January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

The group paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the militants in mid-March.