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From The Times
July 19, 2007

Darfur lake ‘could bring peace’

Foreign Staff

A newly found imprint of a vast, ancient underground lake in Sudan could end fighting in the Darfur region, a US geologist claims.

“What most people don’t really know is that the war, the instability, in Darfur is all based on the lack of water,” said Farouk el-Baz, director of Boston University’s Centre for Remote Sensing.

The potential water deposits were found with a radar that allowed researchers to see what lies beneath Sudan’s deserts. The images, Mr el-Baz said, uncovered a “megalake” of 19,110 square miles (49,500 sq km) – three times the size of Lebanon.

The US says that about 200,000 people have died in four years of rape, killing and disease in Darfur, describing the violence there as genocide. Sudan rejects the term and puts the death toll at 9,000.

Widespread environmental problems are a root cause of Sudan’s violence, the United Nations Development Programme said last month, noting that deserts had spread southwards by an average of 62 miles over the past four decades.

Many refugees from Darfur settled in regions that were once the domain of nomads, straining water resources and sowing conflict between farmers and nomads, said Mr el-Baz.

“If you find water for the farmers, in addition to that for the nomads, for agricultural production, to feed them, to give them grain, then you resolve the problem completely,” he said.

His initiative, 1,000 Wells for Darfur, has gained the support of Egypt, which has pledged to build 20 wells to begin with.

Mr El-Baz, who expects that ground-water deposits can be drilled for water, hopes for backing from other regional governments and has urged nongovernment organisations to get involved. (Reuters)

Lets not gloss over the fact that water is not the primary issue here. Let us consider the greedy Sudanese government and the oil deposits that mirror that of Saudi Arabia. If the populus it removed from the land government/oil companies can move in and claim the oil. Lets be real here.

Robin Coventry, Camden, Delaware, USA

Prof. El Baz is suggesting drilling 1000 wells in the middle of the desert to solve the Darfur Problem, this will requires billions of dollars to construct the infrastructures to drill the wells and move the nomads and sedentary people.
My first comment is that this is not a new discovery it is well known since the early thirties of the last century (http://managedwater.com/node/26).
The second comment is that instead of establishing a centre in the desert where previous experiences from Libya (Man Made River), the extension of the Western desert Oasis in Egypt and in Sudan where Saq El Naam Project which I established in the early seventies, which although was only 40 kms from El Fasher, all these projects failed miserably. That instead of drilling 1000 wells in the middle in nowhere, it is easier to drill the wells in Southern and Western Darfur and along the alluvial basins of J. Marra where there is at least some possibility of long term sustainability.

Dr. Ramsis Salama, Perth, Western Australia

I have heard it said that the next world war will be fought over water rather than oil. so maybe this is truely so much already a key factor for the dry nations... I doubt the UK would agree at the moment though sinc ethey have a slight over supply.

Julie, Exeter, Tasmania Australia

Mmmn. So water ends all wars? Won't this just provide a commodity to fight over?

Danny, Brisbane, Australia

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