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Economic and Military Analysis

Page history last edited by mulforel@dukes.jmu.edu 11 years, 11 months ago

There are several economic and military factors that exacerbate the water problem in the Sudan. In this section, the economic structure and military strength of Egypt and Sudan will be analyzed and compared. The weak military and highly impoverished population in Sudan has made it exceedingly difficult to begin to derive solution for the the water scarcity problem leading to poor health in Sudan. This analysis will allow us to determine the reasons as to why the weak military and poor economic conditions exist in the country. 

 

Egypt's military power is substantially stronger than any of the other Nile basin countries, but desperate conditions have caused the entire Nile basin to be in dispute with Egypt (Ethiopia Forums, 2012). In order to being to solve the water problem in Sudan, the country must gain more militial power and increase the amount of aid received from foreign countries. Once Sudan becomes competitive with Egypt on an economic and militial standpoint, the country will have a higher probability of success when attempting to renegotiate the outdated treaties and to create a water infrastructure within the country. 

 

A key reason that the Sudan is the heart of the Nile Basin water problem is because the economic status of the Nile Basin region is lopsided on many different levels. This is due to Egypt's dominance with the largest economy of the region. In a sense Egypt is controlling the autonomy of people in the Sudan and the other basin countries with its economic and military power. The Egyptian government is reducing the autonomy of Sudan effectively by retaining treaties that are not to date or to scale with environmental and demographic factors of the region. Although the problem extends to all of the Southern countries within the Nile basin, the following section will focus primarily on comparing and contrasting the economy and military's of Sudan and Egypt, due to the strong interaction Egypt has with Sudan. 

 

Egypt has a population of roughly 84 million people with a 1.9% growth rate. Of their total population, 43% live in urban areas. Urban areas have a 100% improvement for drinking water accessibility. The rest of the population living in rural areas have experienced a 98% improvement of available, clean drinking water sources. Egypt's GDP as of 2011 was $232 billion, with a per capita GDP of $6,500. Their GDP was driven by the industrial and services sectors, in which 46% coming from services and 40% coming from industry. Agriculture however, only accounts for only 14% of the total GDP of Egypt. Overall, Egypt's economy has had rough times in the past, but is beginning to stabilize with emphasis on its foreign exchange and social spending. Political instability is still burdening Egypt from growing economically. The CIA World Fact Book has 20% of Egypt's population living below the poverty line (World Factbook, 2012). 

 

Sudan has a population of around 34 million people with a growth rate of 1.9% . Of Sudan's population 40% live in urban areas, of which only 64% have access to improved drinking water sources. Only half of the other 60% living in rural areas have access to improved drinking water sources. Sudan's economy is encountering times of extreme poverty coming from social conflict, civil war, and the secession of South Sudan in 2011. Their GDP is currently $63 billion, with a GDP per capita of $2,400. Unlike Egypt, Sudan's GDP is driven by the industrial and agricultural sectors each contributing 45% to the total GDP. The oil sector of Sudan has produced most of the country's GDP since it began exporting oil in 1999. This has led to increased foreign investments. 80% of Sudan's workforce is centralized in subsistence farming; which has 40% of Sudan's total population living below the poverty line with limited means of getting out od the debt (World Factbook, 2012). 

 

There are profound differences between the militial and economic stance of Sudan and Egypt. The comparison of GDP and GDP per capita show the vast discrepancy between the two countries economically. The significance of these differences are exacerbated because of the way the setup of the treaties for these regions. Egypt has a large amount of control over the withdrawal capacities from the Nile causing Sudan to be unable to withdraw enough water to sustain their population. Sudan's GDP and GDP per capita do not allow self-sufficiency because they cannot afford necessary water treatments technologies or water irrigation technologies. Sudan's economy relies on the highly water intensive agricultural sector, and Egypt's economy is primarily driven by the less water demanding industrial and services sectors. Because of this, the Sudanese economy has been unable to develop significantly over time. 

 

From the military perspective, Egypt outranks Sudan and the rest of the Nile Basin countries significantly. The military of Egypt is the largest military power in all of Africa and the sixteenth largest in the world. It has the manpower of 448,000 and consists of; the Egyptian Army, the Egyptian Navy, the Egyptian Air Force, the Egyptian Air Defense Command, and other large paramilitary forces. Egypt's military, along with a budget of $5.85 billion dollars, is aided by the U.S. by $1.3 billion dollars. Sudan's military on the other hand receives the manpower of 104,000 people; it is the fortieth largest military in the world and only a quarter the size of Egypt's. The army consists of Sudanese land forces, navy forces, air forces, popular defense forces, and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The budget Sudan has set out for its military is only $4 billion and is equipped with military equipment from the Military Industry Corporation (World Factbook, 2012). 

 

Egypt seems to have authority over the basin region militarily. However, in recent years Egypt has had to build up its military, with people and firearms, due to the political unrest against Egypt's previous president--Hosni Mubarak.  There has been an increased need in Egypt to fend off numerous attacks by Islamic forces tied to al-Qaida. Factors like these make the Egyptian military very dependent on the aid and support provided by the United States. With this being said, there have been recent discussions about revoking this aid being because of public protests against Egypt's military. 

 

The Nile Basin countries South of Egypt are trying to form an initiative to more evenly distribute that Nile's water. Egypt bas been relaying the progress of this goal by threatening the declaration of war in order to gain control od the situation. The other eight Nile basin countries have realized this and are working toward forming an initiative with or without the presence of Egypt. However, since Egypt still contains more militial power and have the money to fund militial operations, this goal will most likely be unsuccessful. Egypt responded by reminding them that if their hydro-logical status is threatened and that armed forces will be used to defend Egypt's "rightful" ownership of the Nile.  

 

 

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