The geopolitics of water in Africa

        On September 13, 1922 a heat record of 57.8 degrees is recorded at El-Azizia located only 55km south-west of Tripoli in full Djeffara (plain covering the northwest of the country). This figure denoting an extreme temperature clearly shows the hostile environment in which Libyan hydraulic governance must be optimal. Libya is a vast country of 90% desert, a transitional territory between the Maghreb and the Mashreq, but also between the Mediterranean and Africa. It is a sparsely populated country currently notably by the effect of the conflicts (6,375 million in 2017 according to the world bank). A narrow coastal strip in the North, along the coasts concentrates all the major cities of the country: Tripoli, Homs, Sirte, Benghazi. In addition, the absence of mountain range allows the Sahara to extend to the littoral. In 1953, during oil exploration drilling in southern Libya, a gigantic sheet of fossil freshwater was discovered in the Nubian desert. Thi...

 Since 2015, a persistent drought has affected the West of Cap Province in South Africa. On February 1st, 2018, the city is in a state of natural disaster, reaches a level of water restriction of level 6B (for example,over 200 water collection points will be set up in the municipality in preparation for the taps being shut off. Residents will have to queue up to receive an allocation of 25 litres of water per person, per day..(1)). A consumption of 50 liters per day per minute then becomes the norm necessary to avoid the arrival of the "zero day", where the water would no longer flow to the taps. The region, the metropolis Cape-town and its people are affected by a severe water scarcity (3,8 million of inhabitants are concerned in 2018 (2)). In this article we will take a look at this major crisis, this state of natural disaster mirroring the succession and the failure of political reforms that have succeeded in recent decades. Water management is intimately dependent on...

     Historically, water has always been a source of greed in Africa. Whether through the lush landscape of Victoria Falls discovered by the Scottish explorer David Livingstone in 1855, or with the haunting journey of the young Charles Marlow in search of Colonel Kurtz on the banks of the Congo Rivers. Water is a commodity that will be considered in this blog as a political product. A product of state governance that has evolved during the political challenges of the 20th century. Today, water resources, especially freshwater, are becoming scarce resources, plagued by numerous national and international disputes. In Africa, water shortages are getting worse, the numbers speak for themselves, water becomes the new "Black Gold": Blue Gold.        Faced with this emergency, the notion of "water stress" is introduced to talk about a situation where demand exceeds water resources. Unfortunately, this state of emergency is found in many African co...