(JUBA) – Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is in Cairo for official talks with the Egyptian government, a visit taking place against the backdrop of longstanding disputes over the management of the River Nile and its tributaries.
The trip is being viewed by some regional analysts as an opportunity for Uganda and Egypt to promote proposed dredging works on waterways linked to the Nile.
This project has previously generated strong opposition in South Sudan. In 2022, South Sudanese civil society groups and environmental activists warned that such dredging could damage sensitive ecosystems, disrupt livelihoods and potentially open the door to political interference in the country’s internal affairs.
Reports from regional commentators claim that Egypt has provided Uganda with significant financial incentives to support the dredging initiative.
According to these allegations, some of this funding could have been directed towards political activities in South Sudan designed to create instability, which in turn might justify the deployment of foreign forces to secure the dredging operations.
Critics argue that the broader objective of the dredging would be to increase water flow toward Egypt’s new river systems, ensuring greater irrigation and water storage capacity for Egyptian agriculture and urban use. However, no official documentation has been released to confirm these claims.
The controversy extends beyond South Sudan. Some observers allege that Egypt has also played a role in Sudan’s internal conflict by maintaining ties with both of the rival armed factions currently fighting for control of Khartoum. Cairo has not issued any public response to these allegations, and no verified evidence has been produced to support them.
The visit comes at a time of heightened sensitivity over water resource management in the Nile Basin, where competition over access to and control of the river’s waters continues to shape political, economic, and security relations between countries.
For South Sudan, which depends heavily on the Nile for agriculture, fishing, and transportation, the implications of any dredging project remain a matter of national interest and concern.
