Nile River: The epicenter of impending conflict in North Africa?

Flowing through the desert, the Nile River is a glorious stream flowing in religious mythology. The world's longest river has been meeting the demand for water in North and North-East Africa since time immemorial. At the same time, the Nile River is the gift of Egyptian civilization to the world.

But in recent times it has become the focus of a potential new international conflict. What is that potential conflict? Who is involved? And why or involved? Today's article tries to find the answers to these questions.

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Let's learn about the Nile River at the beginning. The word Nile in English originates from the Greek word neilos meaning valley of the Nile. In Arabic it is called 'Nahar-an-Nile' or 'Bahr-an-Nile'.

The 6,750 km long river flows through Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo and Tanzania. Interestingly, there are two sources of origin of this vast river.

A portion of Ethiopia originates from Lake Tana, flows north, and enters Sudan under the name Blue Nile. Meanwhile, another part originated from Lake Victoria in Tanzania and entered Sudan under the name White Nile. In the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, the Blue and White Niles converge and flow through Egypt as a single river into the Mediterranean.

This river has two unique features. One is - it flows from south to north. The other is that it would flood the whole area in the warmest months of the year. The Nile River is home to many ancient countries and civilizations, including Egypt and Ethiopia.