ABSTRACT

F or our purposes, it is sufficient to state that in terms of type of terrain, climate and rainfall, the country is divided into clearly differentiated regions. There is a low rain area in the northern and north-western plains, and in the central plateau. This plateau is bounded by mountains and hills in the south and west. The climate is desert and semi-desert in the centre and the western part of the country, but is characterised by tropical rains and savannah cuItivation and woods in the south. The land, considered as a whole, is weIl endowed with water resources, though certain regions are very poorly endowed. The main rivers are the White Nile, originating in Uganda, the Blue Nile, originating in Ethiopia, and the Atbara, also originating in Ethiopia, and there are other smaller rivers, such as Gash, Rahad and Baraka. The meeting of the BIue and White Niles at Khartoum creates the main Nile. The availability of river water is recorded in Table 9.1.