Jonglei Canal Project should be a politieconomics concerns

By Majur Deng Nhial

April 28, 2007 — It was heart-breaking when the Mr. President, Kiir Mayardit hastened the deal signatories with people who have secluded interest and advantage over Southern Sudanese; the President was two months old in Khartoum Government and let himself being pushed smartly and indirectly that brought him about to sign the contract without advice from his government by the Northern Regime and Egyptian Government. It was good enough for the Southern Sudan Government to layout its scheme of this project without being pressurized or influenced from a far in decision-makings.

The GOSS have to be warned in its mannerisms of handling foreign policies that are dealing with political and economical lookouts that may bear impacts in later years. It is also observable in several visitations made by foreign leaders’ promises, that most of the GOSS leaders are expecting much of funds from outside and not honoring the expenses of the little shares they have to subdue economic crises; for example, the Egyptian Scholarship which was about to offer studies’ grants to Southerners was not critically review in relation to the Jonglei C. project. It sounded good to the ears, but that was an indirect exploitation over the Southern Economy. The Southern leaders should not base their great interests on funding projects without screening their backgrounds’ end products.

In truth, this project should not be one of the hottest ramifications to concern much at this moment because the Southern Government has budgetary shortfalls due to the fact that, it is a young nation and it does not have a stability in economy to bolster such projects; however, there will be a time in the nearest years to come, to further a creation of reservoirs that will be the furtherance of industrial and agricultural uses for the gains of domestic vantages than giving the Nile waters away which may haul the Southern economy into more than one turning points.

To be clear with on this controversy, the project may have few beneficial merits, but its drawbacks are greater than what is being presumed to be yieldable and it should be examined critically over its vantages as Mr. Duer Jakok and the President had stated it early this week. The world is currently very much experiencing environmental impacts owing to humans’ activities and this leaves the scariest prediction in association to the ongoing debate over the Jonglei C. Project. First of all, the hydrology of the River Nile waters has to be contemplated in connection to its source which is the Lake Victoria; the Nile water supply depends primely on the Lake Victoria that has no other sources. According to some recorded sources, it has been believed that the cores taken from its bottom show that Lake Victoria had dried up completely three times since it formed during Ice Ages! The lake’s shallowness, may limited rivers’ inflow, and large surface area relative to its volume make it vulnerable to climatic changes; its volume contains 2,750 cubic kilometers of fresh water, and freshwaters are scarce commodity and of extensive importance to human basic needs. The whole world contains 2.5 of freshwaters and the Lake Victoria is considered to hold much of; how about that? Should it not be a major contrivance in the nearest future to the South if its water is being misused?

If the Canal Project continues and allowed to be dug, hydrology speed will highly increase since there will be competitive currents from the two rivers – the Nile and Canal. This will draw much of the Victoria’s estuaries to these rivers, and then to the Egyptian reservoir conservations for their domestic usages, leaving the South Sudan in devastated deserts and that will largely affect the next generations, their endemic plants and animals either physically or psychologically if care is not taken at this moment. Much of water will be served in Egyptian reservoirs and dams and part of this water will flow to the Jordanian River. The Nile and the said Canal may dry up and this eventually will create climatic catastrophes to the Southern Part. The precipitation rates will drop to the lowest levels, causing no rains in the South and it is not necessarily the Jonglei State as some people want it be. The region always catches its rains from the recycles of evaporations to precipitations from the Nile’s and Victoria’s and if the Nile and Victoria volumes decreased, the “censored” entire South Sudan will be hit by series droughts; the Equatorian tributaries such as Upper Talanga and Nimerity waterfalls will be cut short; thus, yielding to the negative equatorial climate changes and resulting into less productions in an agricultural industry either federally or locally.

Some expects are convincing local populations by describing the State of Jonglei as a “lowland” and if the canal is dug, there will be no more floods in the region and that is not true because natural floods hit due to environmental revolutions. Yes, it is lowland and digging a canal might be a solution to floods, but it will cause severe droughts throughout in the region. The better devising solution is to build reservoirs and dams in some few years to come which will help in domestic uses and also in water recycles for rains.

The fallen heroes sacrificed their precious lives during the course of struggles due to the concerns of the today’s cohorts, but it was not for their pasts and presents; therefore, the same patriotism should be implied to such perceptible phenomenon to reinforce the next generation sustenance’s.

Historically, the Middle Eastern countries had productive forests in term of vegetations, but their early civilization led them to exploit the physical features by deforestations and land reclamations and that is why they are now experiencing environmental impacts like a dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation and it may happen to the South if it is not eyed well.

The Canal Project must involve the observers from East Africa such as Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya for the perfect endorsements and analyses because this may affect their hydro powers and agricultural industries as Victoria is the gist of all ecosystems’ lives.

Thanks go to those individuals who have tirelessly fought on this particular altercation; people like Gordon Buay, Chol Pajieth, Koang Tut, and the Governor Philip Thon Leek have been playing tremendous roles by rejecting the idea of this canal; the voices they echoed are heard and this is the ultimate reason for Mr. President Kiir Mayardit and Duer Jakok have once again considered Jonglei Canal review over what they had meant in the past in connection to the contract. The government that listens to its people is democratically a good government with great leaders and their reconsideration review over this issue is highly appreciated.

* The author is based in the USA. He is reachable at [email protected]