Free Republic

In the 1950s, a dam was proposed to control the flooding and provide hydroelectric power to Egypt, with construction beginning in 1960. The plan was to form a lake behind the dam that would enable farmers to construct a series of channels for irrigation, prevent cliff erosion and provide a reliable source of drinking water.Prior to the dam’s construction, UNESCO enacted a plan to move historic monuments and structures above the flood waters, including the famous Abu Simbel complex, the temples of Philae island, the temples of Beit el Wali and Kalabsha and the Kiosk of Qertassi near the High...

The leading South Sudanese think-tank, The Fashoda Institute of Strategic and Regional Studies has published a strategic analysis of why and how the Egyptian Government is reviving a three-decade-old old idea — one going back to the Anwar as-Sadat Administration — to resolve the country’s acute water crisis. Egypt is reconsidering the idea of a canal diverting waters from the Congo River into the White Nile near Juba, South Sudan, and thus markedly increasing the quantities of water which would eventually reach Lake Nasser behind the Aswan Dam. According to the Egyptian calculations, the quantities of water required to revolutionize...

French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, known for her books on art and history and for saving the Nubian temples from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam, has died at the age of 97, her editor Telemaque said Friday. In a career spanning more than half-a-century, Desroches-Noblecourt also helped preserve the mummy of King Ramses II, which was threatened by fungus, and became the first French woman to lead an archaeological dig in 1938... Desroches-Noblecourt's greatest accomplishment came in 1954 when the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam with a capacity of 157 billion cubic metres, which...

Decades of autocratic government and a lack of free elections are, of course, the main drivers of the political upheaval in Egypt. But did the sinking dollar and skyrocketing food prices trigger the massive unrest now occurring in Egypt — or the greater Arab world for that matter? In addition to Egypt, the people have taken to the streets to varying degrees in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Yemen. Local food riots have even broken out in rural China and other Asian locales. While the mainstream media focus on the political aspects of this turmoil, they are overlooking the impact...