1902 – The British Strategy to Control the Last Country on the Course of the Nile and Source of the Blue Nile

The next step in securing the full course of the Nile was to control the source of the Blue Nile, which contributes the largest volume of water to the Nile. Britain devised another strategy for this as it did not want to directly interfere with the sovereign country of Ethiopia. In 1902, buried in the document that set the border with colonial Sudan, Britain added an article that stated that Ethiopia would not block the flow of the Nile either by constructing any type of obstruction or by diverting the river. Menelik II signed the document. A detailed discussion of this treaty will be covered in Part Two of this Book, “Treaties on the Nile River”.

After the 1902 agreement, Britain believed it had full control over the Nile River from sources to shore. The next step in its blueprint was to develop the region to feed raw materials to the British industrial revolution. London developed multiple strategies for each region in case they rebelled against their colonial rule. This strategy revolved around the Nile River and planned to use the river to negotiate, punish, or warn. Britain’s first action was to deny Sudanese farmers access to vital irrigation water until they obtained permission from the Egyptian authorities.