Sudanese MPs: People dying of thirst in Red Sea and Blue Nile

Sudanese Members of Parliament have revealed that several people have died of thirst in the Red Sea and Blue Nile states, where the shortage of clean drinking water is acute.

Kothar El Atta, one of the MPs from the Blue Nile constituencies has confirmed the death of people in state. El Atta did not mention which localities, but asked where the ‘Zero Thirst Project’ is, referring to the project mentioned by President Omar Al Bashir in the context of the National Dialogue.

Former Halaib Constituency MP Mohamed Osman Okir echoed that water shortages in the region have left many people to die of thirst in the desert.

On Tuesday he demanded the provision of tankers to transport water to the area. Meanwhile, MPs from the east of the country have confirmed the depletion in the groundwater of certain projects and of the Nile which coincided with the start of filling the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

MP Awad El Karim Babiker Ahmad has reported that the farmers have complained of the depletion of groundwater of El Gash River.

However, the Ministry of Irrigation has stressed that the dam will organise the flow of the Blue Nile for Sudan.

Disastrous floods during this year’s rainy season, followed by an epidemic of watery diarrhoea that reportedly killed hundreds, have deepened the crisis with no relief in sight.