§ 2.36 p.m.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, I beg to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the High Dam at Aswan would result in flooding Sudanese territory and rendering 50,000 Sudanese homeless, and, if so, whether the Sudanese Government concur in the Egyptian project.]
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, the answer to the first part of the noble Lord's Question is, Yes. The High Aswan Dam will cause flooding of Sudanese territory and 56 involve the resettlement of about 50,000 Sudanese. Her Majesty's Government understand that provision for the cost of this resettlement is an integral part of the estimates for the project. The intention is that no Sudanese shall be rendered homeless.
With regard to the second part of the noble Lord's Question, that is, of course, a matter for the Sudanese Government, but I understand that the Sudanese Government have agreed to the project, in principle, subject to three conditions. These are: that there shall be an agreed division of the water; that the Sudan shall have the right to use its share as it thinks best; and that the cost of resettling the displaced population shall be entirely met by the Egyptian Government.
The problem of the division of the Nile waters and other matters connected with the building of the dam will have to be the subject of agreement between the Sudan and Egypt. Her Majesty's Government have stated on many occasions that they are ready to make their good offices available to the parties towards the settlement of the questions at issue.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, I thank the noble Marquess for his reply: I recognise that in the present circumstances, he can go no further.