Nile explorers set to highlight challenges facing communities

A team of explorers is set to navigate the White Nile from its source in Jinja, Uganda, to the Mediterranean to highlight the challenges facing communities living along the river and to promote peace and goodwill in Uganda, Sudan and Egypt, which are linked by the waterway, according to a relief organisation that is supporting the venture. CARE International said this week it had teamed up with an expedition of explorers from South Africa, New Zealand and Britain, who will navigate the 6,690-km length of the river for the first time in history. The expedition, sponsored by private companies and humanitarian agencies, is expected to depart from the source of the Nile in Jinja on 17 January, on a journey that will take it through some of the harshest and remotest terrain. "At any point between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean, the banks of the river have an abundance of historical sites, [and sites rich in] cultural heritage and natural beauty, mixed with astonishing stories of war, famine and drought," CARE said in a statement. CARE's Gary McGurk told IRIN that the members of the five-month expedition would conduct interviews with communities dependent on the Nile to highlight the challenges affecting their livelihoods. They would, among others, visit Dinka riverbank farmers in Bor County, southern Sudan, who grow crops and herd cattle. "Many of the farmers are women, as men are fighting in the civil war," he said. The rafters also expected to meet a Dinka clan, the Monythany, who have given up cattle to become full-time fishermen in the vast swamp known as the Sudd, where CARE is carrying out projects to improve their access to health care. "We want to show the life of the communities there," McGurk said. "We will be using this opportunity to showcase what they are doing and to increase understanding of what is happening among the international community." Natalie McComb, a member of the team, told IRIN from the Ugandan capital, Kampala, that apart from its geographical mission to explore a region so rich and diverse with a history stretching back 6,000 years, the expedition is also hoping to raise international awareness of the plight of communities living along its banks. A statement from the organisers said both the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A, as well as other rebel movements, had given the expedition clearance to pass through southern Sudan. "The expedition is being welcomed with open arms, and the respective governments will be working hand in hand with the expedition to help promote their peace initiative," the statement said. Moreover, the team is expected to highlight water-management problems that have plagued the White Nile for centuries. "This expedition will highlight the sociopolitical and economic plight of the peoples along the river that have been subjected to long-term civil war, famine, drought and a resulting displacement," the statement said. A "great deal" of research had so far gone into the feasibility of the venture to establish the possibility of navigating the Nile in its entirety, including the dangerous white-water rapids which were considered impossible to navigate until recently, according to the organisers.