Abstract
In the early 1950s, it was clear—even to the British—that in a near future Sudan would become much more, if not completely, independent.1 At the same time, the United Kingdom wanted to keep some kind of influence in the country. One of the possible ways was to clearly offer support to Sudan’s development efforts, with irrigation high on that agenda. A completed Managil area required a second dam on the Blue Nile—planned at Roseires—for its water, and it was clear that Sudan did not have all the financial resources itself to build that dam. In 1953, a certain Luce from the Sudan Government Agency in London shared some ideas—after a discussion with colleague Allen from the Africa Department in London—with John Carmichael in Khartoum. Basically, Luce argued, if “maintaining British influence in the Sudan really means anything,” supporting Sudan’s economic development was “the most effective way of showing it.” Luce had also spoken with William Ni m mo Allan and Humphrey Alan W. Morrice, both from the SID. The three of them thought that financial support for Roseires Dam, “in much the same way” as the loan for Gezira in the 1920s, would be one of the best options.2 After all, large-scale irrigation was “always in the forefront of Sudanese minds.” A UK loan to the Sudan would have great political value.3
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Notes
See M. Al-Rahim (1969) Imperialism and nationalism in the Sudan: A study in constitutional and political development, 1899–1956 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
SA, 993/7/139-140: Letter from Howe to Secretary of State, dated 17/9/1953. See K. M. Barbour (1959) “Irrigation in the Sudan. Its Growth, Distribution and Potential Expansion,” Transactions and Papers (Institute of British Geographers), No. 26, 243–263.
R. Chambers (1969) Settlement sehemes in tropical Africa: A study of organisations and development (London: Routledge)
J. M. Hodge, G. Hödl, and M. Kopf (eds) (2014) Developing Africa: Concepts and practices in twentieth century colonialism (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
See E. Akyeampong, R. H. Bates, N. Nunn, and J. A. Robinson (2014) Africa’s development in historical perspective (New York: Cambridge University Press)
M. Black (2007) The No-Nonsense guide to international development (Oxford: New Internationalist Publications)
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M. F. S. Kunkel (2011) “Writing the History of Development. A Review of the Recent Literature,” Contemporary European History, 20, 215–232.
SA, 593/12/1-410: Taha T. J. (1965) “Optimisation of production in the Gezira Scheme,” in Agricultural Development in the Sudan (Khartoum: Philosophical Society of the Sudan, Sudan Agricultural Society)
T Tvedt (2004) The river Nile in the age of the British: Political ecology and the quest for economic power (London: I. B. Taurus).
SA, 756/7/7-109: Interim Report Working Party. Around this time the issue of “proper” use of natural resources was high on the international agenda (M. Clawson (ed.) (1964) Natural resources and international development (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press)
SA, 756/7/7-109: Interim Report Working Party. See I. G. Simpson (1970) “New Approaches to Irrigated Farming in the Sudan: Organization and Management,” Land Economics, 46, 287–296.
C. C. Reining (1966) The Zande scheme: an anthropological case study of economic development in Africa (Evanston: Northwestern University Press).
W. A. Hance (1955) “The Zande Scheme in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan,” Economic Geography, 31, 149–156.
SA, 994/1/109-110: Extracts from letter to Carmichael from McCall, dated 4/12/1955; “You will remember John Smith’s ideas on the subject, with large new areas being opened up and seven Canadian engineers being recruited to run the areas.” See also S. Serels (2013) Starvation and the State: Famine, slavery, and power in Sudan, 1883–1956 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).
SA, 593/10/1-123: IBRD, Technical Mission Sudan Irrigation. See also J. B. Bascom (1990) “Food, Wages, and Profits. Mechanized Schemes and the Sudanese State,” Economic Geography, 66, 140–155.
NA, COll 1/784/10: Letter from Lethem to Beckett, dated 11/12/1944. See also J. D. N. Versluys (1953) “The Gezira Scheme in the Sudan and the Russian Kolkhoz: A Comparison of Two Experiments,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2, 32–59
J. D. N. Versluys (1954a) “The Gezira Scheme in the Sudan and the Russian Kolkhoz: A Comparison of Two Experiments, Part II,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2, 120–135
J. D. N. Versluys (1954b) “The Gezira Scheme in the Sudan and the Russian Kolkhoz: A Comparison of Two Experiments, Part III,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2, 216–235.
As I explain in Ertsen (2010) and M. W. Ertsen (2007) “The Development of Irrigation Design Schools or How History Structures Human Action,” Irrigation and Drainage, 56, 1–19.
K. M. Baker (1989) Agricultural change in Nigeria (London: John Murray), 4
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Ertsen, M.W. (2016). The Everlasting Rectangles: Gezira and International Development. In: Improvising Planned Development on the Gezira Plain, Sudan, 1900–1980. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-56818-2_8
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