ABSTRACT
S h o r t l y after the reconquest of the Sudan, the control of the Nile above and below Wady Haifa was placed exclusively in the hands of the Irrigation Service of the Egyptian Ministry of Public Works. There was nothing cryptic about this arrangement. It was due to the fact that Lord Cromer, whose personality dominated both Egypt and the Sudan, looked upon the Nile as Egypt’s river. To him the Black Country was a viaduct which carried life-giving silt to the fertile fields of the Delta. But fair play was his predominant characteristic. He knew that the leading officials of the Egyptian Ministry were Englishmen. He therefore felt that this control would not be exploited unfairly by Egypt to the disadvantage of the Sudan.
