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Article: A gasping serpent. (The Nile)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 27, 1988
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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CAIRO
WHEN Russian engineers put the final touches to the Aswan high dam in 1971, Egyptian officials claimed that it would shield the country for ever from the fickleness of mother nature. The vast reservoir behind the dam, Lake Nasser, would be Egypt's "everlasting source of prosperity", according to its eponym. Instead, it is drying up and may be Egypt's ruin.
Ethiopia's rainfall is unlikely to return to normal this year. Unless it does, the Blue Nile-which rises in the Ethiopian hightands-will not replenish Lake Nasser. Without enough water from the Nile, Egypt's ambitious desert-reclamation programme may peter out and Egyptian agriculture go into ...